Dreams of an Absolution
by AppleCiderr
Summary: Natsu is unfortunately caught in Acnolgia's blast, being blown into the ocean before Tenrou vanished, being left for dead. He is found by an old women by the name of Ayame, who rebilds him new limbs, but is going to die from her old age, Natsu decides to stay and learn from her about engineering and building to pass on the knowledge. What will happen when Tenrou finally returns?
1. Chapter 1

_**New Fairy Tail story! I'll admit I kinda saw this from someone else, and wanted to make it my own way. I don't remember the name but if I find it, I'll mention it in another chappie, I dunno if it's ongoing or discontinued, hopefully it isn't and I'll find it soon! If you know the story I talk about, please put it in the reviews, thank you!**_

_**Disclaimer: I unfortunately, don't own the wonderful god given manga that is Fairy Tail, and never will * Sniff sniff * I'm typing this while eating Poptarts at 1am.. I have no life.**_

_**Rating: Imma say T+, just because. I'm a little cautious, but nobody listens to warnings anyway, you know who you are..**_

_**Note: Smart!Natsu Powerful!Natsu TenrouIsland AU**_

_**Summary: Natsu is unfortunately caught in Acnolgia's blast, being blown into the ocean before Tenrou vanished, being left for dead. He is found by an old women by the name of Ayame, who rebilds him new limbs, but is going to die from her old age, with no apprentice to pass her knowledge onto. Natsu decides to stay and learn from her about engineering and building. When Ayame dies, he decides to leave and travel for a while. Finally, the Tenrou group returns, and for a year they believe Natsu's dead, but when they catch wind of him being alive, they begin to search for him. What will happen? Will they find him? What will happen if they do?  
**_

_ He could barley understand what was going on, so many things had happened at once. They were attacking Acnolgia.. Then everything went downhill fast, and suddenly there was yelling at him to move, jump out of the way, anything.. Then a blast of light, blinding pain, and then everything went black.. _

_._

_._

_._

_Where was he now?_

_._

_._

_._

_Was he dead..?_

_._

_._

_._

Slowly, Natsu pried his eyes open to see himself not in the afterlife, but in some strange place, there were strange smells around him, and the above of him looked like the roof of a house. Not a hospital.. Was he just in some random house?

"My guild.. I.. I gotta make sure they're okay.." He muttered, and tried to lift his arms, but his right arm and part of his chest, even his leg felt slightly weird. His head was pounding, but he lifted it anyways, looking down towards his right arm, and gasped in shock. His arm was gone! There was.. was like a metal arm over it! He tried to scream, but it only came out as hacking coughs and shaky breaths, his chest was partly metal too.. What happened?!

"Ah! So you're finally up?" A sarcastic voice said, and he turned his voice towards it, his olive eyes widening at the sight of this old women. She was dressed in a leather shirt and pants, an apron over that with goggles on her forehead, and watching him with a slightly suspicious eye. The women walked over to his right side, making him squirm, and started to mess with the metal arm. "You're lucky I found you when I did, gaki. You would have died, what the hell did you do to do this to yourself anyways?"

Natsu glared at her angrily, clenching his left fist and said," I didn't do this to myself, I was on Tenrou with Fairy Tail, my guild, when Acnolgia attacked, and was trying to kill us, I guess I got caught in the blast.. I can't really remember what happened.."

"Fairy Tail? I don't remember seeing your guild mark.." The women muttered in confusion. Natsu swallowed what saliva was left in his parched throat.

"Well, it _was_ on my right arm.." He muttered, looked away from her with a forlorn expression.

The woman's blue eyes clouded with sympathy and sadness before saying," Oh, I see.. Well lucky for you I made you new limbs, I'm an experienced engineer, I know how to create metallic limbs that will connect to your nerves, it'll work like a real arm and leg, but a little more bulky.. I just have to connect it to your body"

Natsu nodded wearily, and was feeling rather drowsy until there was the clicking of a bolt, and this time he _did_ scream in pain, jerking up and looking at her in anger. "OW! What did you do?!" He yelled.

She gave an amused smirk. "I said I had to connect it to your nerves, didn't say I had done it already. Go ahead, test it out," She said proudly.

With a final glare, Natsu looked at the right arm, shifting weight onto his left as he sat up, and willed this metal limb to work like his normal arm. It lifted up when his brain commanded it, Natsu's eyes went wide with happiness, he even waved the metal fingers on the hands, and let out a happy laugh.

"Wow, thanks a lot lad- OW!" He shrieked, as she connected the leg without telling him again. But, he could move it just as well. Slowly, he moved off the bed she had him on and stood up, feeling a little dizzy and wobbly, before taking a few test steps. It worked perfectly, he almost felt like he was walking normally!

"I- I thank you! I don't know how I could make it up to you!" He exclaimed, looking at her. She just watched him with a calculating eye, like she was stuck in a daydream, and then shook her head quickly, and said," Maybe you could stay and get used to those limbs before you go gallivanting off. Now that I know who you are, I can put a flame generator in the arm, so you can make fire and eat it too, isn't that a problem Dragon Slayers have?"

After a few moments of weary thought, Natsu looked at the woman and said," Sure! I'll stay! Thanks for the offer, Ms..?"

"Ayame, my name is Ayame," She said in a calm tone.

"Okay, Ayame then"

That day, he worked on picking things up, trying to figure out how much strength the arm had over how much his normal arm had. He broke and bended so many things, he was extremely happy that the person who was housing him knew how to build things, because there was no way in hell he could fix or pay for the things he broke, ten glass bottles alone before he got the hang of it.

"Stop breaking my stuff and come eat something, you've been asleep for a month, you're probably starving," Ayame said offhandedly.

"A MONTH?! Why didn't you tell me this before?!"

"You never asked"

Natsu face palmed with his left hand, and then followed her to a dining room area. He looked around curiously before plopping down in a seat, and saying," This place is in good-shape for someone as old as you" The lady didn't glare at him for the snarky comment, in fact she grinned at him.

"I guess I deserved that one"

"Yes, yes you did"

They sat there for a while, eating her foot, Natsu having to pace himself because he knew that if he ate too fast he was gonna puke it all up before the meal was over, and the women began to look drowsy and cough by the end of the meal. She got up and reached out to take the dishes, and Natsu quickly got up. "I can do it, don't worry," He said, not wanting her to strain herself, she already did so much to help him. She looked like she was about to refuse, but sighed and sat down. Natsu _carefully _used his right hand to take some of the utensils and his hands to take the plates, and used his left hand to clumsily was the plates. _'I'm gonna have to learn to use my left hand as well as my right..'_ He muttered with off-hand amusement.

He sat back down and reached out his right hand, and tapped hers. Ayame looked up at him, finally looking her age. "Is everything okay?" He asked, and was genuinly worried.

"It's just.. Natsu I'm not getting any younger, I'm going to die sooner than later, and I don't have a single apprentice to pass on my knowledge to.. Of being an engineer and carpenter.. I'm gonna die with the knowledge of giving unfortunate people like you back what they had before things happened.. and no one will be able to pass on that knowledge," She whispered sadly, for once not being a smart-ass.

It only took Natsu a half-second to make his decision, and he grinned widley and said," I can do it! I'll be your apprentice or whatever, I'll learn everything you can teach me Ayame-chan, it's the least I could do after everything you've done for me!"

Ayame lifted her head, graying blue hair covering her teary eyes almost all the way, and quickly saying," Natsu you don't have to do that, go back and find your guild!"

"No! With your knowledge we can save people and give them back things they lost, maybe more, and I think my guild can wait, if it means saving people," Natsu said stubbornly, smiling proudly.

Ayame chuckled weakly, but said," Fine, but it won't be an easy road, if your willing I will teach you everything I know and more"

Natsu gave her a wide grin and thumbs up, saying," You got it baa-chan" Ayame went into fits of laughter, Natsu following soon after her and wondering if learning all this would be so bad, he could help people and save lives possily, maybe even fix broken villages, he would take in all the knowledge that Ayame could give him, even if it mean't staying away from the guild for a while.

Little did he know, that most of the guild weren't there anyways, they were all believed dead, including him. Little did they know what would happen in seven years time..

– – – – –

_**Little Note, Next chapter won't go to the time skip after Tenrou, I wanna show some of the stuff Natsu and Ayame do first so I won't have to explain it later, and you'll know what happened I'll update ASAP! Hope you enjoyed, R&amp;R! I also promise the next chappie will be longer, but I'm tired and its 3am, I need to sleep, I finished my poptarts  
**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Next Chappie of Dreams of Absolution, hope you enjoy!**_

_**Note: Still don't remember the name of the fanfic I got the idea from. If any of you know, please tell me. Also I will be accepting shipping ideas, anyone you think, maybe tell me why too :3 Thanks~!**_

_**Disclaimer: See first chapter**_

– – – – –

Natsu awoke again to the tweeting of birds, and the sunlight shining in his face. Squinting, he brought his metallic arm over his eyes groaning in exhaustion. He had gone to bed at a decent time, but kept awakening to nightmares about what might have happened to Lucy and the others. It didn't help that Ayame had given him a real room with a window right by the comfy bed, but no drapes. Honestly, that didn't mean he was going to complain, the woman had given him a home and saved his life. He was excited to learn her knowledge. For a few minutes, he just lied in the bed and ran his normal fingers over the metal arm, taking in every nook and cranny, looking at how it seemed to be made. It amazed him that someone could create a working arm for someone that didn't have one, connected to nerves it worked almost exactly like a real arm.

Sighing, he sat up and rubbed his bare chest, most of his right side was now metal as well, it slightly bothered him, but it was better than being dead. His metallic leg didn't have toes, but honestly it wasn't like he needed them. Finally, Natsu climbed out of the bed, running a hand through his spiky hair. The house was larger than anyone would think, she had two story and a basement, which was where she kept her workshop. (That was where he had been for the month he was unconscious) He opened the door quietly, still only in his pants, and walked downstairs a little bit clumsy. He looked around then noticed Ayame tinkering with something on the counter, several books around her. "Hello Baa-chan," He said teasingly.

"Mornin' pinky," She teased back, chuckling gently. Natsu plopped next to her, giving a feral grin. "So, what do I start with first?" He asked, eager to learn everything he could, Ayame feeling the same way. Ayame pushed one of the larger books over to him with an eager smile, and said," This is the book for beginners.. It explains the tools and mechanics and stuff like that, maybe if we get you educated enough you could apply for a university.."

Natsu looked at her curiously. "University? What's that?" He asked, opening the book and squinting curiously at the words on the page.

"Well, it's like a college but for people who are smarter, you have to pass an admittance test to get in," She explained.

She gained an amused snort in response.

"Then you better find someone else, because I'm an idiot. I can't even protect my friends without getting myself killed.. I'm just a failure.." He muttered, his metallic hand clenching tightly. _'Are they even okay? What happened?! I should have been able to protect them! I'm such a failure! What if they're dead?!'_ He thought, not snapping back into reality until Ayame shook his shoulder quickly.

Natsu flinched in surprise and looked up at her. She looked down at him with stern eyes. "Natsu, don't ever think that, they would be very proud of you, no matter what happens. Relax, and maybe think of good memories you have with them, okay? I bet you could get into a University with your determination too" She said in a motherly tone, and Natsu quickly took a deep breath and calmed down. He looked down to start reading the book. It was all extremely interesting, he wondered how many things could be made just out of some of these parts, would he be able to do that once he finished learning? He hoped so!

He made it a quarter through the book, but was having trouble reading, the words were blurry and hard to see. He had to lean extremely close to the pages in order to see what it said, and Ayame seemed to notice this, she frowned and said," Hey pinky, are you having trouble reading?"

"It's all blurry.." Natsu muttered in a frustrated tone.

Ayame gave an evil smirk, and said," I guess we'll have to start calling you four eyes now.." Natsu looked at her and gave a confused, and annoyed look. "What do you mean?" He countered exasperatingly.

"I'm saying, dumbell, that you might need glasses, if your having trouble reading you might be having trouble seeing other things, and will need glasses to see," Ayame said in a mock exasperated tone.

Natsu's eyes widened at the thought. "B-but.. I've been reading perfectly fine before!" He snapped, and Ayame scoffed. "Just because I fixed your arm and leg doesn't mean the explosion didn't damage other things, the radiation could have also damaged your vision, probably didn't show up or got worse with you out of commission the past month, while I'm out shopping, I'll take you with me to get your eyes checked," She said. Knowing he couldn't argue, Natsu begrudgingly agreed.

Turned out Ayame was right, and his vision was actually extremely bad thanks to Acnolgia's attack._ 'Another thing that bastard took from me..'_ This was how he found himself looking around a glasses shop with Ayame looking for a pair, and listening to his teacher complain about the 'poorly designed attempts at glasses'

In the end, he chose a red pair that were not too small, but not hipster glasses size. He like the design and it didn't make him feel too nerdy. He was amazed at how much easier it was to view things now that he had glasses.

"Anything else we need to do?" Natsu asked happily, eager to look around the town he would be staying in. Ayame nodded. "Yes, I need to buy some groceries and supplies to fix up the house, it's gotten a bit shabby, and you'll help me with carrying this stuff and building, no way your getting out of it" She said.

"You need my help anyways, with your old lady arms"

"Hey! These 'old lady arms' put you back together mister!"

"Touche"

They walked out of the eye doctors and Natsu took the first look at his surroundings in now clear vision. It was too big to be a village, but too small to be called a city. So basically a large town. Ayame pointed out certain shops and other things that he might need to remember in case she sent him into town, which was likely since she sometimes wouldn't be able to come too if working on a project, or if it was something he needed to get on his own.

The town was on a large island, surrounded by ocean with a dock on one side, boats around it, big and small. It reminded Natsu of the city in which he first had met Lucy. "What's this town's name?" Natsu asked curiously, to the daydreaming Ayame.

"Oh, huh? The name is Nuova Speranza, but Nuova for short," Ayame said calmly, before walking into a supplies store. She started looking around for the correct wood and paint she needed to put the broken pieces of the house back together. She walked all the way down the aisle looking around, and Natsu watched her for a moment before scooting a few feet to the left and taking a few boards of the correct type of wood.

"This what you're lookin' for?"

Ayame looked over, and gained a playful smirk. "Well, look at that four eyes, you _are_ useful after all!" She teased playfully, and walked over, taking more piles of the wood and stacking them on a ramp type thing.

"Maybe you're the one that needs glasses, you seem to be having trouble finding things in plain sight as of late," He teased with a playful smirk, and Ayame gave a surprised look at the good comeback, turning around with a flustered groan and muttering something derogatory.

They found the paint and Ayame used her magic to transport it to the house, then they headed to go to the grocery store. They got the stuff they needed and headed home. Natsu looked at the shabby house and let out a sigh, this was going to take a while. Natsu looked down at his metal hand, and sudden an idea popped into his hand. _'What if I were to put a kind of storage area for small nuts and bolts and things like that into the arm..?'_ He thought, and his mind began running a mile a minute at what he thought he could do to make that idea become a reality. He only snapped out of it when Ayame placed a hammer in his outstretched hand and said," Let's get going!"

For an old lady, she had a lot of energy. Natsu and her were busy fixing up the outside of the house for hours, rebuilding and painting. Natsu was being stubborn, and didn't give in until she decided enough was enough. They stopped for lunch, and that's when Ayame decided to warn him that he would be able to eat too much, as his body and stomach wouldn't be able to expand as much as it could before with half of his chest metal. Natsu had to pace himself and be very careful, after wards they went to rest for the day, feeling well accomplished that day.

Natsu sat on the desk in his room, not able to sleep. He found himself enraptured with the ideas he had come up earlier that day. He couldn't go to sleep until he wrote them down, using his right hand, he began to draw a design of his metallic limb, and the ideas he had for it, even making more than one design and staying up way longer than he expected.

A few hours later, Ayame was covering up the sleeping Natsu with a blanket as he had fallen asleep on his desk. Looking down at the ideas Natsu had written, she knew she had made the right choice when agreeing with Natsu to train him in her talents, and she knew she wouldn't regret it.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Next chapter of my newest story! Man, I am on a ROLL today! I have a lot of good ideas, and I want to thank you all for your ideas as well! So far, the shipping ideas are pretty tied, but I have an aidea of who I might choose, I'll leave that up to you for now though, keep sending in reviews and ideas, and I'll be sure to read them!**_

_**Also, I thank the guest user 'Fanfic Reader' for helping me find the fanfic I had been mentioning. The fanfiction I based this off of was The Mechanical Black Flame Dragon by Chooch77, thanks for your help!**_

_**Important Note: There will be several timeskips throught this chapter. Depending on how I feel , I might get into bringing Fairy Tail into the story or leave them out for one more chapter.**_

_**The shipping war so far is in between Natsu/Levy, and Natsu/Mira in that order**_

_**Disclaimer: Read First Chapter**_

_**On with the story!**_

_**I LIED ABOUT THE TIMESKIP!**_

– – – – –

Six Years Later

– – – – -

Natsu sat at hid desk in the early morning, hunched over his textbooks and writing notes on a piece of paper with his metallic arm, since it couldn't get tired. He was studying for an important exam, which would decide whether he got to keep studying his majors or had to leave the college for good. Natsu wasn't worried to be honest, but studying wasn't a bad idea. Ayame believed he would pass with ease, as he usually did. He had grown a lot smarter and wiser since the explosion. However, Ayame had began to grow weaker, she didn't leave the house as often as she used to, Natsu knew she wasn't lying when she said she was getting old, but the thought of her dying sent spears of sadness through his heart at the thought of losing the closest thing he had to a mother figure.

Natsu sighed, he just couldn't concentrate, he kept thinking about Ayame. He managed to get her to go out for a walk around town to get some fresh air, and he hoped she hadn't cooped herself up in some shop. Natsu finished his notes and shut his textbook with a sigh, running a hand through his pink hair. It had grown longer, and to be honest he preferred it long, his bangs brushed to the side and it sticking out crazily on it's on as usual, but with a lost more strands poking out. He had his glasses on the tip of his nose, balancing only by his ears and nose. His desk had become much more cluttered over the two years, papers and designs for mechanical ideas, little tinkers he made covered the desk, a pencil holder that held his tools AND pencils. Some eye goggles lying next to one of the little trinkets, and his textbooks stacked in a corner.

Natsu looked at the clock above his desk, then got up and walked downstairs, the house had been fully refurbished, and looked good as new, Natsu no longer had to worry about falling through a hole in the floor while walking, which had happened more times then he was willing to admit. He decided to go and see if he could find Ayame before he had to go and take his Graduation exam. He pulled on his coat, snow shoes, and mittens. The winters here were a lot colder than you'd expect with it being an island, though it was close to the equator. He opened the door and walked out into the snow, it was still snowing, probably going to be a blizzard soon, but it was a beautiful sight, it never rained or snowed in Mongolia. There were kids running around, building snowmen or having snowball fights.

They waved at him as he walked onto the path, Natsu grinned and waved back. He had become another citizen, not a native, this town was his home and he was happy to be here. He saw Ayame chatting with another one of the senior citizens, both having a cup of hot chocolate in their hands. Natsu waved as he walked by, gaining waves back. He looked at the clock, and realized if he stalled much longer he would be late for his exam! Natsu dashed to the college, and made it to class just before the exam began.

_**CRASH!**_

_**BOOM!**_

The whole side of the college suddenly was blasted into the faces of the students, flames erupting around them._ 'What the hell happened?!'_ Natsu panicked, standing up, he knew what he had to do, quickly, he began to swallow all the flames around them to get rid of them, then jumped out onto the rooftops. The students, most of which didn't know how to use magic, were ducked under their desks, hoping their braver classmate was able to save them.

Natsu swallowed more flames, but knew he was eating too much, even he had a limit, especially with his new metal chest. His ash covered face looked around for the source of the fire, and saw a cloaked mage using a wand to slash magic fire all across the city. Natsu quickly ran towards him and ducked behind a piece of rubble. He couldn't just charge in blindly anymore, he wasn't as stupid as he had been six years ago, not only would he caught and apprehended easily, he could do more harm than good blindly throwing flames everywhere. He went up behind the man, wrapping his arms around the man's neck and dragging him backwards as the man blindly struggled, until he fell unconscious. Natsu opened the compartment in his metal arm and pulled out a string, bendable metal, wrapping around the man's arms and snapping the war, which let out a small puff of smoke before it sizzled into ashes.

With a sigh of relief, Natsu began to search the man to make sure he had nothing on him, he found a rune of some sort.. A rune with the name Zeref written on it. Zeref..? The name sent huge warning bells off in his brain, but he knew he would have time to figure that out later, he needed to stop the attacks before something too dangerous happened.

"_**WATCH OUT!**_" Someone nearby shrieked, and Natsu watched in panic as a whole tower crashed inwards on top of several people. "NO!" Natsu yelled, getting up and running towards the tower, another cloaked figure jumped in front of him. Natsu quickly skidded to a stop, and assessed the situation. _This guy has been injured, favoring his left side, his shoulders are leaning towards his right side, probably preparing to pull out a weapon, no other magic signatures in the area, probably blindly charging in on me, might be an easy fight but I can't underestimate him._ Natsu moved into a fighting stance, showing his muscles of his left hand, and the metal arm clenched with a scary clamp. He saw the man flinch, before throwing a poorly aimed punch at Natsu, who ducked and swung his leg out, kicking his feet out underneath him, making the man fall and painfully hit his head, then he remained unmoving.

Natsu did the same thing he did to the other men, as he looked back angrily at the last three cloaked figures. "Whose next?!" He snarled, steam hissing out the sides of his mouth, fangs showing easily. The three instantly vanished in puffs of smoke, unfortunately, the two that Natsu had subdued also vanished as well.

The others who were uninjured also began helping the salmon haired man pull the piles of bricks and rubble away from the people trapped underneath. Natsu heard the coughing, and said," Hang on! We are almost there!" He pulled a large brick away to come face to face with his teacher. Natsu's heart skipped several beats, his vision suddenly becoming hazy. "AYAME!" He yelled, frantically pulling her out. Her legs were crushed beyond repair, she had several holes in her chest and blood dribbling from her mouth. She looked at him and gave a weary smile, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Natsu could feel some tears already tumbling down his cheeks, and he said," Ayame! Hang on! The paramedics are on their way! You'll be okay, I can build you new legs and-"

"Natsu.. Don't.. I'm not going to make it.." Ayame whispered, giving a few coughs, spurtung blood onto Natsu's ash covered face, his olive eyes widened at her implications. "No no no! Ayame you can't die! You can't!" He sobbed, not giving a real reason, just not wanting his first ever mother figure to die, not like this.

"It's okay Natsu, I lived a good life, you made it even better," She said, weakly clutching his left hand," You're like the son I never had, I want you to go and be the best damn mage and engineer you can.. And go back to F-fairy tail.. I know y-you are st-strong Natsu.. I'm p-proud of you.." Her grip loosened, and her eyes grew glassy. Natsu shook her several times, his tears tumbling out of his eyes at the rate of a waterfall. "No... No.. No..." He whispered, leaning against her now still stomach and continuing to sob, he had just lost his loved one, it felt like Tenrou all over again..

A few days later, the town, all dressed in black mourned over the several people lost that day, Natsu stayed the longest, sitting in front of Ayame's grave, his metal arm on the tombstone. _'I can't believe I let myself get distracted.. I should have figured out where she was.. I'm such a failure.. I can't even save her.. I wouldn't have made it in time no matter what happened.. If only I could find a way to heal people.. I mean... Something easier than running someone to a hospital where they could die on the way..'_ He clenched his fist, suddenly his intelligent mind was running a thousand miles a minute, as ideas sprung into his head. "That's IT!" He yelled, getting to a standing. "If I were to create an edible type of healing elixer, one that would have the ability to reproduce with as it grows... A PLANT! Yes! A plant! Easy to use it's reproductive system to implement a healing factor into it's DNA!I must look around, travel, I will find a way to make sure nothing like this happens again!"

He knelt down, placing his hand on the grave one last time. "I'll make you proud once more Ayame, from wherever your watching.." He promised, and then got up, running back to the house.

Natsu remained in the town for a little while longer, to help clean and get his diplomas, before packing his stuff in a magic scroll, and leaving on a boat. For once, he didn't get seasick, his mind was on different things, the thoughts of helping and saving.

– – – – –

The boat lurched to a stop next morning, waking up Natsu in a spurt of surprise. He got up and looked around the town they had stopped at, he knew in an instantly that he was completely and utterly lost. He thanked the boatmen anyways and walked off the boat, looking around the small village, surrounded by a gigantic forest. 'Maybe I could find some plants and a place to stay for a while..' He thought, and walked into the village. He was wearing a black cloak over his normal outfit, and his long salmon hair covering most of his glasses, he could still see pretty good though. The villagers seemed skittish and jumpy, they eyed him suspiciously, like he was an outsider. Natsu instinctively pulled his bag closer to his side.

He found a hotel not too far, and walking in quickly and calmly. He was given weird stares again, mostly located towards his mouth. He ignored them, pushing his glasses up his nose and asking,"Do you have any rooms open for a few nights?" The man fearfully nodded, quickly handing him the key and ducking behind the counter. Natsu gave another confused look, then rached into his bag and pulled out the correct amount of Jewels, placing them gently on the counter. 'Something it obviously terrifying these villagers.. I must find out what...' Natsu thought, as he took his key and walked towards the room. The people all backed away or whimpered in fear of him, it was extremely confusing.

The hotel room wasn't that bad at all. It was furnished beautifully, stainless free, with a queen sized bed and mini fridge. It had obviously been recently cleaned however, the smell of bleach and detergent enough to make his sensitive nose go into a sneezing fit for several minutes, before he opened a window to let out the smell. He sighed and lied on the bed, running a hand through his messy salmon hair and relaxing his sore limbs. 'What are those villagers so scared of? It probably wasn't my metal arms.. I only have people try to touch them, or pull them... Maybe they're scared of mages..?' He wondered to himself, staring at the forever rotating ceiling fan. Around and around and around.. That was exactly how his brain felt, trying to come up with ways to help these people sent him right back to the start.

He decided to go to a gardening shop, find any good plants he could use for his plan, he'd probably have to buy a few plants, not just one. He walked downstairs, noticing his money for the hotel room still on the counter. He leaned against the counter, trying to look nonchalant as he yawned and stretched, brushing the Jewels closer to the cowering man, who looked at him with a confused expression, as he was probably thinking Natsu decided to take his money back.

With that little problem taken care of, Natsu walked down the still-empty streets as he looked for any store having to do with gardening. His sensitive ears catching the noise of flesh hitting flesh, and a sickening thud. Natsu broke out into a run, seeing a little girl and older women on the ground with two burly man over her. Natsu frowned, and stepped in front of them. "Hey! What do you thing you're doing?!" He snapped, the two burly men looked at the man before them. Muscled and tall, Natsu looked intimidating, but apparently these two were 'too good' to worry about their challenger's strength., thinking they had won the battle.

"Move out of the way, kid. We are from Fairy Tail, we're here to get our money from these ratty villagers!" The taller one snapped, flexing his muscles in what Natsu supposed was an attempt to scare him off. But that Fairy Tail comment had riled the Dragon Slayer up, and now he was _**Pissed Off**__. _

A raised eyebrow, a snort of amusement, and Natsu said," You two, Fairy Tail? No way, Fairy Tail is filled with the best and kindest wizards in all of Fiore, not some garbage like you two, trying to scrounge for money. I've seen better mages in the sewer than I have from you"

Strike One

The shorter, stumpy one shouted," We_** are**_ Fairy Tail, four eyes! I think ya' should move out of the way before we take your money too!"

Natsu instinctively pushed his glasses up, making the gleam of his glasses cover his eyes and give him a sinister look. "Well.. I can't argue with that logic," He drawled sacrastically. "If you are Fairy Tail, then where are your guild marks?"

Strike Two

The looks on the two mens' faces were pure gold, Natsu wished he had a camera to snap a photo of the moment. "Uh.. G-Guild marks?!" The shorter one stuttered," We don't have-" The taller's mouth slapped over the other's mouth.

"Well of c-course w-we have the g-guild marks.. If you could just give us a second t-t-to.." Suddenly, they both tried to run.

Strike Three, you're out.

Natsu grabbed the shorter one by the collar of his shirt, using his metal hand, as he knew the grip was better on that hand. The man gave a chocked gasp, and fell back. Natsu ran for a few moment', grabbing the taller man, and throwing him down, placing his metal foot on the man's back, penetrating olive eyes watching the shorter one carefully. However, keeping on eye on the second one wouldn't be that hard, since the man seemed completely paralyzed with fear and about to wet himself.

Natsu grabbed them both, growling and said," You aren't Fairy Tail, you shame the guild name by even uttering it" The smaller one whimpered in terror, then fainted. 'Pathetic' Natsu thought with a frown.

The women seemed to get her senses back, standing up and smiled at him wearily. "Thank you so much for rescuing us, they've been doing that for almost two years now.. I was starting to worry if someone was going to help us or not," She said happily, and held out a hand. "I'm Lisa, thank you again"

Natsu shook her hand with his normal hand, and gave a goofy grin. "No problem, anyone with common decency would know that what they're doing is wrong," He said, sending a glare towards the unconscious men.

The little girl gave a confused look. "Comm.. Common decen.. Decency?" She repeated, wondering what it mean't.

Lisa chuckled and said," I'll tell you later, sweetie" She walked away, and Natsu dragged the men towards the army building none-too softly. Once he got there, they looked surprised, because they probably thought Natsu was with them.

"Thank you sir, but you really didn't have to do this all," The chief said. Natsu shook his head. "No, even if I am only here for a short time, I want to help. Do you have any idea who is behind these attacks?"

"Actually, we know exactly who it is, we just haven't been able to apprehend him.." The chief said, going under the desk and pulling out a picture of someone Natsu never thought he would see again.

_'__Bora the Prominence?! He hasn't learned his lesson yet?!'_ Natsu thought, eyes widening in shock.

"Oh.. um.. Hate to break it to ya but I know exactly who this guy is.." Natsu says," About six years ago, Fairy Tail, the real Fairy Tail, stopped him. He was using illegal magic to seduce women and sneak them on his ship to sell them, under the name of Salamander from Fairy Tail"

"How do you know all this?"

"Well I think I would remember if someone tried to pose as me.."

"W-wait.. Y-you're.. Salamander?! But I heard you died on Tenrou!" The officer exclaimed in excitement and shock. Natsu sighed and said," No, I got blasted off the island, rescued and recovered, I've been training for a long while now, I'm traveling right now to get ingredients for a project of mine, but I'd be willing to help you defeat this guy, I won't allow him to hurt more innocent people"

"Oh okay"

Natsu thought for a moment, and said," We need to set a trap, running out at them crazily won't do any good, we should find a way to disguise someone as those two idiots I caught then we might be able to sneak in.."

The man rubbed his chin and smirked. "I like your style, Salamander, let's do it!"

– – – – –


	4. Chapter 4

_**Next Chappie! I'm excited to continue this, but I am warning you now Natsu will go to at least one more place after this tiny little scuffle with Bora, but I promise that Natsu will return to Fairy Tail soon, but maybe not in the way you think~!**_

_**Anyways.. ONWARD!**_

– – – – –

It was only a few days later that Natsu and two others were underneath a small bit of illusion magic, heading towards the location the prisoners had given them. Natsu didn't know for sure if they should trust those two, but considering they nearly wet themselves after Natsu beat their asses, he didn't think they would lie. _'But you never know..'_ He thought to himself. _'People are tricky..'_ He exchanged looks with the others, and they both looked prepared for anything. He himself? He felt.. Indifferent about this, in his newly made genius mind he saw several flaws that could go wrong with the plan, but maybe his was just being too worried. But in seven years, even that idiot Bora could have a few new tricks up his sleeves.

He noticed something as they got closer to the hideout, a metal box over the took a second for Natsu to realize what that probably was.. A magic detector! Shoot! Natsu panicked, and pulled his two comrades aside in sudden panic. "Natsu-! What are you-!" One said.

"Shut up!" Natsu snapped, pulling them closer."If we had walked through that, an alarm would have gone off and given off our position! You're lucky I pulled you back in time!" He snapped, he could just see the contraption pulsing with power. That was a close one..

"So what do we do?" The second one asked.

Natsu already knew what to do. "Make a distraction, I'll see if I can rewire or dismantle it," He said, ducking in the bushes after getting nods from the two men. He moved towards the contraption, pulling a few tools from his metal arm, and then closed the small storage case. He heard his two comrades starting a fake fight with each other, something about snatching the other's money. He heard the scuffle noises and pounding of feet, the noise of people yelling," Break it up!" This was his cue.

He dashed quickly to the metal contraption, unscrewing the screws on the side and pulling away the lid. If Natsu didn't know about wiring, he would have been screwed. It looked like a rainbow, with all the different colored wires. _I can put that degree to use! _Natsu thought teasingly, then pulled some wires out and quickly rearranged them into different areas, reprogramming it as fast as he could before someone saw him. He quickly re-screwed the bolts and dashed to where his comrades were being held down. He gave them a nod, and they managed to see it during their little scuffle, calming down.

A burly man ran over and yelled," What the HELL is going on here?! Fighting right outside the hideout?! Are you trying to give away our position?!" Natsu resisted the urge to roll his eyes. _'You screaming like a banshee is kinda giving away our position, genius..'_

The man grabbed his comrades, then grabbed Natsu as well. "This is unacceptable, I'm taking you straight to Bora, he'll sort you brats out! Unacceptable!" _'Perfect!'_ Natsu hid his grin, letting himself be dragged away, knowing this would be the easiest way to find Bora. He could hear his comrades making small whimpering noises and fake shivering to give of the appearance they were scared, Natsu found that hard to do with half his body made of metal, he settled for just whimpering.

They were dragged to the office and thrown in, stumbling, Natsu waved his arms a few times to keep his balance, and glared at the man in front of him. Oh yes, he really wanted to punch this man.. You'll get your chance.. He reminded himself First get everything ready.. Their plan would be ruined if he let his anger get the better of him. Bora was staring at them as if they were lower than dirt, and said," I'm ashamed of you three, fighting amongst yourselves over money? You know there is more then plenty to go around in that village we're near"

Natsu felt angrier than he had before, his metal hand clenching tightly, making a slight squeaking noise. Bora didn't seem to hear him, because he continued his rant as if nothing had happened. "As punishment, you won't go into the village for two weeks, you'll be going and loading the girls we caught onto the carriage, we need to get them to the sale point as soon as possible" He could hear the clenching fists behind him, Natsu put on his best fearful face and fearfully said," W-w-we will do our best sir.."

Bora scoffed and turned around, Natsu took this as a sign to leave. Feeling more pissed then before, Natsu walked out with his comrades and frowned. "Wait.. Which way are we supposed to go to get to this place?" He asked sheepishly, to which both his comrades shrugged. Natsu gave an exasperated sigh. "Great, just great.. I guess we'll just have to split up then.. Whoever finds it last pays for dinner!" He challenged, and then his two comrades dashed off. Natsu went around a while, getting strange looks and calls of annoyance from others, mainly since he was going in circles.

Then, he felt a strange pulse around him.. and looked around trying to find the source of it, before he realized it was coming from him! _Oh no!_ He panicked. _The_ illusion is wearing off! He dashed to the nearest door he could find, shutting it behind him. He turned and sighed in relief after several moments of holding his breath. He was safe.. He was alone.. He could probably recast the illusion while he was back here.. That's when he heard a weak voice say," N-Natsu..?"

Said mage turned around quickly, his eyes widening at the sight of who recognized him. "Rouge?!" He exclaimed," How the hell did you get here?!" The exhausted, injured, bound mage looked at him with a weak glare, and said," I guess we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.."

"We?"

He walked closer and saw Sting tied up next to him, and the young man glared at him with his dark blue eyes. They both looked half starved, covered in wounds, dirt, and blood that Natsu couldn't tell where the wounds really were or not. Sting seemed a little surprised to see him. "Where have you been, Dragneel? We heard you died along with the rest of the Tenrou group," He snarled, trying to hide his pain.

Natsu crossed his arms, trying to hide the pang of sadness he felt at mention of Fairy Tail, and said," I almost did die. Acnolgia blasted me off the island, I barley survived, I've been learning and getting stronger, I wonder though, how you guys ended up Bora's prisoners.." He lifted his head to look at them, eye glasses gleaming in the light, and making both of them look away in what looked like shame. _Shame? I've never seen a Sabertooth mage feel shame! I must be hallucinating!_ He thought in amusement.

"Well, we got a mission to help protect these people, but we got ambushed and caught. I guess that Bora guy has gotten smarter since you kicked his arse Natsu.." Rouge weakly said. Natsu nodded and knelt down, pulling his pocket knife out and cutting through the ropes, melting the chains with his flames. Rouge tried very hard to hide the gratitude in his eyes, looking away and rubbing his wrists where there were bloody wounds from their hands being tied.

"I could have done that..." Rouge muttered arrogantly.

"Oh yeah? Then why did I have to save you both?" Natsu deadpanned, making the man wince and look away quickly, pursing his thin lips together in annoyance. Sting then tried to stand up, only to collapse back on the ground with a groan of pain.

"Thanks.. I guess.." Sting said, rubbing his wrists, where the restraints had dug in. Natsu used his metal arm to help the buff man stand, He knew that their undercover strategy was broken, so he decided that he would find his comrades, knock out Bora, and destroy the hideout so no one else could use it again.

"Can you guys find a good hiding spot? I'll take you back to where I'm staying after this and heal you up, then you can leave if that's what you wish to do," He said, and both of them looked at each other for a moment before nodding at him. Natsu grabbed Sting's hand, hoisting him up, and letting him lean against his shoulder, than did the same for Rouge

_The only reason they are probably even listening to me is because they wanna get the hell out of here, and they're pretty banged up, probably couldn't get back on their own.. _He thought, and he set them down outside a hole he melted through the wall. "Stay here, I'll be back as soon as I can," He said, then turned towards the hole.

"Wait! Natsu!"

At the frantic call, the salmon haired mage turned around to see Sting struggling to sit up. His blood covered hair covering his face, but not hiding the sheen of sweat that had accumulated from his struggle to sit up. "Min... Minerva is in there... Somewhere.. We don't know where, we were separated after they caught us.. Please... Please if you can find her.. Please bring her with you.. Please..." Sting begged, shocking Natsu with the tone he had taken.

Filled with new determination, Natsu nodded firmly and said," I will, I promise.." He walked back into the hideout, slinking towards the door, when he heard sudden yelling, and felt his heart drop. _'Did they get caught?!'_ He thought in worry.

He opened the door cautiously, pushing it out a bit to peek through the crack, only to see his two comrades unconscious on the floor. _'Oh no..' _He thought, and watched Bora yell," There were THREE of them, you idiots! Where's the third one!" Natsu clutched his fists when Bora kicked them both, as if trying to get an answer out of them even though they were unconscious.

"I remember seeing someone running into the room where we are keeping those Sabertooth mages.." One of Bora's lackey's said, and Bora growled, kicking the two unconscious men again. "I didn't give _**ANYONE**_ permission to go back there!" He yelled," Go back there and grab whoever _**dared**_ to try and stop us!"

Natsu heard the panicked noise of pounding feet, his heightened senses helping him tell how far the man was. Quickly, Natsu pushed the door with all his might against the man, slamming the door and unfortunate lackey against the wall, Natsu could hear the crack of what was probably the man's nose, and the gasps of shock from the men in the room.

"B-b-boss! It's him! It's _Salamander!_" One man shrieked in an extremely panicked tone. Natsu let out a low chuckle, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose and asking," Oh, so you all remember me?"

Bora's eyes were wide with shock, he looked nothing like the big bad man of authority that he was a few seconds ago, he looked like a frightened mouse. Natsu let a smug smirk emerge on his face, making the occupants of the room shudder even more.

"W-what are you guys waiting for?! _**ATTACK!**_" Bora yelled, before running towards the exit. Only a few brave souls dared dash up to the pissed off Dragon Slayer, all ended up on the floor a second later.

"Oh no you don't!" Natsu snapped, bursting flames out of his normal hand, which turned into a clawed hand, grabbing Bora before he could get away. The man screamed in pain and struggled hopelessly. Natsu heard him mutter something before rocks crashed from above and around him, twisting around into a dome shaped trap, darkness surrounding the dragon slayer. Natsu tried to calm his panicked breaths the best he could. _'Earth Magic?! When did he learn this?!'_ He wondered worriedly.

He could barley hear the muffled laughter, but Natsu wasn't about to let Bora win, he clenched his metal fist together, then thrust it at the rock dome, breaking right through the rock, making Bora stop his obnoxious laughter.

"How?!" Bora yelled, panicked even more.

"You think that everyone around you has been slacking off?! You aren't the only one whose gotten stronger," Natsu snarled, then turned his nose up to the older man. "To be honest, you haven't shown me really any new tricks, maybe you're the one who is slacking off.." His poke in the ribs gave it's desired intent, as Bora growled with anger and started sending his purple fireballs towards Natsu in rage, and without coordination. He was doing the job for Natsu.

"How dare you call me weak! Just because you have beaten me before doesn't mean you'll beat me now!" He yelled, still throwing fireballs, he was all alone now, all the men had run off after they realized who would win the fight. Bora finally seemed to understand this as well, only after several rocks from the ceiling started to fall and hit them both. Natsu dashed forward and knocked him down, punching him square in the face, knocking him out cold.

Natsu sighed in relief, now he just had to find Minerva and get out of here with Bora-the-Bastard in tow, more pieces of debris were falling from the ceiling, the walls were crumbling around him. He needed to check the rooms, and fast. He ran towards the nearest door, and tried to open it when he realized.. He couldn't move his metal arm's fingers, lifting it up, he realized the fingers of the arm were crushed and jammed together, from when he had punched through the rock dome Bora made. 'Probably was a bad idea, I should have though it through..' He thought, trying not to let panic grip him as he realized he was in a collapsing building, with three unconscious men to carry, a young women to find, with only one arm to do that with.

Natsu felt his heart beat faster, panic attempting to settle in. He first grabbed each man, one by one, and dragged them out the hole he had made for Rouge and Sting, who moved out of their hiding places eagerly, limping the best they could towards him.

"Did you find her?" They asked in unison.

"I haven't started looking, I wanted to get these three out of there before the ceiling crushed them, I'll go look for her now," He said," Oh! I give you permission to restrain Bora however you so-please" The mischievous smiles on the two Dragon Slayer's faces was totally worth wasting a few seconds of time.

Dashing back inside, Natsu pushed a door open, and yelled," Minerva!" No response, he quickly ran around the room. Nobody was in there, the rocks started to crumble more and he ran out, checking more rooms. Slamming the last door open, he was greeted by several files, which he grabbed, taking one last look around the room for Minerva before dashing out, narrowly missing the collapse of the entire place, which crumbled behind him as he jumped out the hole, landing unsteadily on his feet, hearing the crash and crumbling behind him, the hideout was gone.

"Minerva, did you find Minerva?!" Was Sting's panicked question. Natsu weakly shook her head and replied," No, she wasn't in there, I checked every room there, she wasn't there.. My best theory is they took her away to be sold.."

Both mage's face's fell, but then Sting said," Then we'll go and find her! Natsu-san, after you heal us, come with us to Sabertooth, it would be an honor if you'd help us look for Minerva"

Natsu saw the rare thing called emotions in their eyes, and knew he couldn't say not, besides, he wanted to make sure Minerva was safe, even if they were not the closest of friends. He let a small smile rise on his face and nodded. Looking over at Bora, he found that the two Dragon Slayers had tied his hands and legs to a stick, so they were hanging in the air and he was completely immobile. He looked like something you would stick over the fire to cook, and it made Natsu bust out a laugh before he could stop himself.

"Oh um.. It seems I have miscalculated again.." Natsu muttered in realization. "There is no way in hell I'm going to be able to drag three men with one arm.."

"One arm?" Rouge asked in confusion.

Natsu sighed again, he really had to stop thinking aloud.. He pulled up his sleeve to show the metal arm, making both Sting and Rouge's eyes widen. "I told you two that I was caught in an explosion.. I didn't say that I got out unscathed. I lost my arm, leg, and almost half of my chest, now they're all made of metal, hey, at least I'm not dead!" He said the end cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood.

"Peculiar.." Rouge said in wonder, leaning forward and tapping at the arm. "How does it work?" He asked curiously," You looked like you can use them perfectly well, as if they aren't even metal at all!"

"They're connected to my nerves, to move like a real arm, I can't feel pain in them but other than that it isn't that different," He explained, then pulled out of Rouge's grip. Natsu pulled out his water canteen and dumped the water on both his comrades, making them cough and splutter as they woke up, sitting up quickly.

"Morning sunshine, our mission is complete, let's head home!" Natsu said happily, and the two stood up, carrying the unconscious Bora as they headed back towards their village, happy the mission was completed.

– – – – –

"Thank you so much Salamander.. I don't know how we could ever repay you for your help, if it weren't for you, we'd still be living in fear," The military chief said, shaking Natsu's left hand vigorously.

"You can repay me by making sure nothing like this ever happens to your village again, keep your villagers safe and don't let idiots like Bora trick you," Natsu said in a calm, but firm tone. The chief nodded vigorously, then Natsu left, walking with Rouge and Sting leaning on him, they had gone back to their quiet, cold personalities. Probably because they want to seem strong to the people around them.. He thought knowingly.

A few minutes later, he unlocked the door to his hotel room and plopped both men on his bed. "Hang on a sec, I have a spare hand that I can use until I manage to fix this one, then I'll get started on your wounds..." He said, grabbing his bag and pulling out a spare metal hand. Using his left hand, he started to remove the jammed hand while the two Sabertooth mages watched curiously.

"You are a lot less dumb and reckless than the last time we met, Natsu Dragneel," Rouge said softly, Natsu let out a low chuckle, one that wasn't filled with emotion, but pain.

"People change in 6 years, Death also changes people.." He whispered, then clenched and unclenched his fist as he finally reattached his metal hand. He grabbed his first aid kit and walked over to the two Sabertooth mages, beginning to clean their wounds. They remained silent throughout the healing process, trying to digest the strange and confusing facts floating through their head.

"Natsu.." Sting said.

"Hm?"

"Those files you got, they might have some hint as to where Minerva might be," Sting said," Could we take a look at them?"

Natsu blinked in surprise at the politeness, then pulled out the three files he found, and opened them up. Each one had a different location and ship picture. "I bet these are the slave ships!" Natsu declared," The location of where the girls were taken, and when! This is perfect!"

"I agree, and after we stop at the guild hall, where shall we go to first?" Rouge asked, Natsu examined all three locations and pointed to one of them, the one that read:

_**Hargeon**_

The other two Dragon Slayers nodded calmly, before they began talking about their plan for the day, while Natsu thought about the real reason he chose Hargeon. They would be leaving soon, a new adventure to try and find the missing Minerva.

_**Please Note: I do understand that Rouge and Sting are younger than Natsu, so please don't complain about that. Also, I apologize for calling Natsu Naruto in the story, I have fixed it now but I'm sorry once again, it was 2 in the morning, I didn't realize until I got a message XD As for misspelling rogue, I will get it fixed as well, thank you for your patience!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**Dreams of an Absolution Chapter 5! Hope you enjoy! This will probably the last or second to last chapter before Fairy Tail returns, so I hope you enjoy this new chappie, as I am excited to start working on this!**_

_**Onto the Story!**_

– – – – –

Needless to say, the employees on the train had quite an entertaining day. Three young men had boarded the train heading towards the city Sabertooth was located, they each had a look of seriousness on their face, an air of bravery around them, even though two of them were rather injured. But, as soon as the train started to move, they all collapsed on the seats, or floor, with green faces, groaning and moaning the whole ride, the pink haired one had steam coming out of his mouth, which was making it extremely hard for the employees not to laugh as they brought the lunch trolley around.

The ride ended, and it took a lot of coaxing for Natsu to get the two Sabertooth mages to their feet, he usually had intervals of motion sickness now, sometimes it happened and sometimes it didn't. He slung his bag onto his back, walking dizzily out of the compartment with the two other Dragon Slayers, who were trying desperately to regain their composure. The stiffed laughter from several of the Train's employee's did nothing to help their pride.

Natsu looked around the town and took a deep breath, looking at the small village, and rocky areas above them. He could see the guild hall from down here, it looked graceful up on the mountain. Rouge and Sting walked with him, still needing him to support them because of their injuries. Sting was muttering several obscenities about the train employees that would probably make the ears of young children bleed if they ever heard such words.

"Sting, relax," Natsu admonished,"What they perceive as amusing is not our problem, let's just get to the Guild hall so we can go search for Minerva"

Sting rolled his eyes and looked at Natsu, his yellow hair being blown back softly by the wind. "Stop speaking like that, it makes me feel dumb," He growled, looking away with his cheeks slightly flushed.

"Oh, I sincerely apologize for my unacceptable choice of communication, would you please grace me with the acceptance of your forgiveness?" Natsu asked in a snarky tone, and Sting glared at him, replying," Now you're just _trying_ to piss me off"

Natsu snickered and then replied,"Calm down, explain how we're supposed to get up that mountain with both of you against me"

Rouge looked at Natsu, a look of exhaustion in his dark eyes. "There should be a slope by the edge of the mountain, it only appears for Sabertooth mages, so once we get there it'll appear, no worries," He explained calmly,

The slope appeared as soon as Sting and Rouge were close enough, allowing them to climb up to meet the guild. Natsu pushed the door open the best he could while holding onto the two younger men, and instantly all eyes were on them. There were flashes of relief in their eyes, before they settled on Natsu with looks of suspicion. Instantly feeling self conscious, Natsu backed up a step before remembering he had two people who needed his support at the moment and didn't attempt to back up again.

"What is he doing here?!" A strange man with long blond hair and a red hat on asked with a sneer.

Rouge sent a dangerous look towards his Guildmate. "Leave him alone Rufus, Natsu is the one that rescued us from Bora, so you should be thankful to him, seeing as how none of you could manage to locate us," Rouge snapped, surprising Natsu with the defensive tone he had taken.

Suddenly, a high pitched squeal of happiness burst everyone's eardrums, as a green exceed with a pink frog costume on tackled Rogue, clasping himself on the young man's chest and yelling,_"FRO LOOKED FOR ROGUE BUT FRO COULDN'T FIND HIM.. FRO SO SORRY! FRO IS HAPPY YOU ARE OKAY!"_

"Frosch, relax.. We're fine.." Rogue said softly,"We're going to be okay, Natsu healed us the best he could, but he needs more medical supplies to heal us, then we're leaving with him to-"

"Where's Minerva?"

Looking down, Rogue saw that Lector was staring at them with uncharacteristic concern in his eyes. Rogue knew that the Exceed would not let this question go unanswered, and he opened his mouth to reply, but Natsu beat him to it.

"Once I arrived there, I only found Rogue and Sting in the hideout, all the other rooms are empty. My best guess is she was taken away to be sold, I guarantee she probably escaped and is hiding or attempting to return, we're going to search for her," Natsu explained, managing to stay calm with all eyes on him.

"I'm coming too!" Rufus suddenly declared,"I'm not letting you guys go alone!" Lector stood next to Sting and said," So am I!"

"Fro coming too!" The little exceed said firmly. Orga exclaimed the fact he was joining the search, followed by Yukino and Dobengal. Natsu seemed sightly surprised, but then smiled and nodded. He felt a his respect for Sabertooth growing, the fact that all of them were prepared to drop everything and go and find one of their members. They all looked at Natsu, who regained his calming look and said," Okay, I need a place to heal them, most of the wounds I can heal with magic but there are a few I'll need to stitch up"

Sting groaned loudly and said,"Noo... Stitches are painful.. Natsu please don't" Natsu rolled his eyes and said,"If you wanna go help find Minerva you'll suck it up and let me fix you up" Sting chuckled and gave an exasperated sigh. Yukino led him over to their infirmary, and Natsu was able to heal most the wounds, but he was right about some needing to be stitched up.

"I'll have to put you two into a deep sleep," Natsu explained,"If I don't you'll have to feel everything" Both young men paled for a moment before Natsu placed his normal hand on their heads one at a time, using a small burst of magic to put them in a deep, peaceful sleep. He opened the compartment of his metal arm, pulling out some needles and strong thread. Looking at the wound on Sting's arm, he had to quench his nausea. Yes, he had sewed together wounds before, he sewed wounds more than 5 times after Ayame's death, but he would never get over the feeling.. It was_ skin_, being _sewed together_! He threw up the first time, but now it was easier to calm down and do it.

Rogue had three lacerations that needed stitching, while Sting needed five, and after he finished he cleaned it with alcohol pads and then bandaged them so the stitches couldn't be picked at. Then he sighed and plopped himself in the chair by the beds, rubbing his tired eyes. He felt exhausted, he hadn't slept in at least four days with all the excitement that had been going on, with the raiding of Bora's hideout and meeting up with Sabertooth, he guessed he forgot.

He pulled the red rimmed glasses off he face, placing them on the desk next to him, and rubbing his eyes again, sighing again. It felt like he only blinked, but when he opened his eyes it was nighttime, and he was stuck in the same position he fell asleep with, leaving him feeling extremely stiff, and it didn't feel good, especially when he was partly metal. Looking up at the two blurry forms of Sting and Rogue, he found they were still asleep, and after being trapped in that cave for lord knows how long, they deserved it.

He groped for his glasses on the desk, putting them back on before reaching for his backpack he had brought along, and pulling out his sketchbook. He usually used it for new mechanical ideas or upgrades for his arms, but he really just wanted to draw for some reason. At first, he didn't know what he was making, but about halfway through, he realized it looked like Mirajane.. But it also looked like Erza.. Sighing again, he decided to finish the drawing later when he had a clear head. Putting it in his backpack, he looked up as he heard an exhausted groan.

He quickly stood up, popping his stiffened muscles as he did so, before looking to see Rogue was waking up. He crossed over, smiling gently with relief Rogue wasn't crying out in pain, getting those medical lessons from Ayame had been worth it. Rogue's eyes slowly blinked open, looking around in confusion before they rested on Natsu, relaxing almost instantly. "Hey Natsu.." He murmured softly.

"How do you feel?" Natsu asked worriedly, Rogue slowly sat up and said,"I feel better than I have in a long time.. Thank you.." Natsu let a goofy grin explode on his face before he asked,"You hungry?"

"No thank you, I'm-" Rogue's stomach growled loudly. "-fine.." Natsu grinned again, and replied," I'll grab you some food, when do you think Sting will-"

"I'm already awake"

Two pairs of dark eyes met up with the blue eyes of the blonde mage, who was watching them quietly. "How long have you been awake?" Rogue asked calmly.

"Couple hours, gotta admit Natsu you're good at drawing," He said with a smirk, making the salmon haired mage blush and look away. No one but Ayame had seen his drawings before, it felt weird to get compliments about it.

Just then, the door was pushed open and the two exceeds ran in, Lector and Frosch ran to their respective dragon slayers. Frosch smothered Rogue into a hug, while Lector just plopped himself on Sting's bedside.

Natsu clapped his hands together, and asked,"So! When do you want to leave?" Sting managed to sit up and said,"Tonight, we leave tonight"

– – – – –

Natsu stared at the night sky curiously, smiling at the constellations. He and the group from Sabertooth were now on the boat heading to Hargeon, watching the stars and listening to the moans of Sting and Rogue as they tried to stop the seasickness. It felt good to not be getting dizzy and just listening and feeling the spray of the sea water.

"Looking at the stars?" He heard someone ask, and turned his head to see Yukino walking over, leaning against the railing with him. Natsu let a peaceful smile cross his face and nodded softly. She smiled back and said," I like looking at them too, my favorite constellation is Libra, how about you?"

Looking up curiously, Naruto examined every constellation he could see, trying to figure out his favorite. "Aquarius," Natsu said softly, memories dancing in his olive eyes. Yukino smiled and nodded, they remained staring at the stars for a while, just enjoying each others' company. Then, Yukino scooted closer and said,"I want to thank you for saving Sting and Rogue.. And offering to spend time with us and help find Minerva, when you could be off with your guild.."

Natsu chuckled gently, and said,"My guild doesn't even know I'm alive, I've been sort of.. Hiding away if that's what you could call it, recovering from.. Something.. And I would always help you guys, you deserve it" Natsu moved his hand across the railing as he spoke, making contact with Yukino's delicate hand. They looked into each others' eyes for a second before quickly looking away with blushes over their cheeks, pulling their hands away quickly. Natsu pulled his glasses off, as they began to fog up, wiping them off on his jacket.

Yukino, her face still covered with blush, said,"I um.. I'm gonna go get some rest.. Big day tomorrow.." Natsu blushed again, pushing his glasses up his nose as he nodded awkwardly, nearly dropping the spectacles again. He had gotten smarter over the years, definitely, and of course he had learned ore about love, reproduction, it was one of the required courses for his college while he was living with Ayame, yes he understood love and how it worked now, but he felt awkward about it, and didn't understand his own feelings.

He went to his own room on the boat, plopping himself on the cot, staring up at the ceiling silently, his mind wandering. His normal hand reached up to his metal chest, he rubbed at the part where skin met metal, his flesh at that point on his skin was scarred, rough and jagged, another reminder of his failure to succeed in saving his friends' lives, and his weakness against Aconolgia. He felt tears brim his eyes, and he clenched his metal hand, punching the wall with a weak amout of force, as to not break it. "Failure.." He growled, remembering the fact he didn't even manage to save Ayame from dying either, he felt as if the small room was closing in around him, making him panic.

He didn't know how long he had been in the room, but he needed to get out. He pushed the door open, stumbling as he leaned against the railing once more, panting shakily as he watched the ocean water splash against the sides of the boat.

He watched in sudden confusion as the water seemed to be slowing in it's splashing more and more, until the boat had come to a complete stop. Natsu felt dread fill his heart.. _Something's wrong.._ He thought fearfully, not forgetting the fact that he and Sabertooth bought out this boat, so it was only them on the trip._ Something is definitely wrong.._

There was the sound of running footsteps behind him, Natsu quickly turned around to meet either an attacker or a friend-

Instead he was met with a magic shrouded fist heading towards his face.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Haha! You like that Cliffhanger I left you all at? Don't kill me.. But this won't be the last time I do this! Haha! * Rubs hands together easily * Not this chapter though, hopefully I freaked you all out enough for a few chapters, anyways.. ONTO THE STORY!**_

– – – – –

Instincts kicked in as Natsu grabbed the fist with his metal hand, pulling it down, the strong attacker struggled, but couldn't seem to get away from the fire dragon slayer.

Dragging the fist down to meet the face of his attacker, Natsu's eyes suddenly widened, filling with anger and bloodthirsty rage as the young man only managed to get one word out of his mouth.

"_YOU!"_

In front of the dragon slayer was the same man who he had fought during the destruction of Ayame's town. Zeref's followers.. This was the man who destroyed the town, terrorized civilians, killed innocent people, distracted him long enough for the pillar to crash, killing his mentor, friend, and closest thing to a mother figure. Natsu's urge to kill was almost too strong to ignore, he wanted nothing more than to burst into flames and tear this man to pieces.

He felt his body began to glow and radiate with the heat of his flames, when a voice said,"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Natsu Dragneel.."_ That voice.._ Natsu turned his eyes to see another hooded figure staring him down, and Natsu growled, squeezing the fist of the figure he still had a hold of painfully, to the point hit metal arm almost dented again, he couldn't let that happen once more, not when he might just start to fight again.

"Natsu!" He heard Yukino cry, then the sound of footsteps as Natsu used his intellect to think quickly, needing a plan. He ducked down quickly, sweeping the man's legs out from under him, before grabbing his arms with one hand, pinning him to the raining, one leg making sure his legs couldn't lash out, while he pulled the first tool he had from he metal arm with a flick of the wrist, it just so happened to be a spare screwdriver he always had for tinkering, he placed it at the man's skull. "Stop!" Natsu yelled when the other hooded figure tried to grab at him. "One more wrong move and I'll kill him!"

There was no hesitation in Natsu's eyes, both the hooded figures and Sabertooth knew that Natsu would carry out with the threat, because this Natsu was very different than the Natsu of the past, he had seen things and been through enough to know when and when not to show mercy, and this was one of those moments.

Sting stood where he was in shock, he had only managed to get up because the boat had stopped, when he heard the commotion from outside, he had expected some of Natsu's bothersome tinkering (He dealt with that a lot on their journey back to Sabertooth) or maybe some members messing around, he did not expect to find some people had managed to sneak on the boat, catch a dragon slayer off guard, and confuse them within ten seconds.

He looked at the hooded figure not being held down by Natsu, their cloaked hand toward the salmon haired mage had lowered at the young man's threat, instead he or she was looking straight at them, their features shrouded by the cloak over their face. Sting prepared for a fight, crouching down in an attack position and watching the second figure warily.

"Look at you all.." The hooded figure drawled, gaining confused or enraged looks from the group of mages on the now stopped boat. "Chasing after a daydream, looking for a lost friend, letting a Fairy Tail mage guide you there, tell me, why do you even trust Dragneel?"

"He saved my life!" Rogue and Sting snapped at the same time, the rage being too much for their already inured bodies to handle, as their magic started to pulse around them.

The figure pinned by Natsu laughed. "He saved you? I'm surprised, just a few months ago he couldn't even save the life of his own teacher, the one who saved his life before, what does that say about you, Natsu Dragneel?"

Natsu's eyes were a lit with a rage he hadn't felt in a long time. "Shut up," He growled, pushing his makeshift weapon closer against the hooded figure's head, making him swallow fearfully before going quiet. The other figure laughed evilly.

"What are you here for?!" Sting yelled, eyes narrowed in anger. The hooded figure laughed and said,"Well, you see, one of you knows too much.."

Natsu's eyes narrowed. "Yes, see Natsu knows what I'm talking about.. Minerva knew too much, so we took care of her.. And someone here knows to much as well, so we'll take care of him!" The hooded figure yelled, moving to attack Natsu.

Natsu already knew his threat would only last for a while, and he knew they wanted something or someone, and he wasn't about to let them. Natsu stabbed the screwdriver against the hooded figure's shoulder, and he screamed in pain, trying to reach for the screwdriver. Natsu turned and ducked a punch from the second hooded figure, before Natsu kicked him down by the stomach.

Sabertooth took action, grabbing the two mages and reaching towards their hoods. With quick observations he noticed they didn't seem at all fearful of their hoods about to be pulled off, that spells trouble.

_**"Don't take off their hoods!"**_ Natsu yelled quickly, stopping Rufus and Yukino in their tracks as they were about to grab the fabric.

The two quickly stopped in their movements, looking at the Dragon Slayer in confusion. "They're hoods are charmed.." He muttered, making the Sabertooth mages nod and the hooded figures chuckle.

"So smart, Dragneel.. What else do you know..?" The shorter one sneered evilly. Natsu frowned and replied,"I know you follow Zeref, I know that you have special powers, I know some of you are demons, and I know the only way you could have gotten onto this boat, is you were underwater before this, so you have a hideout underneath here.."

He could see the tensing of the two figures, and crossed his arms and glared at them. "You will take us to Minerva, _now_," He ordered.

"And if we don't?" The taller one asked.

"Then you'll deal with all of us"

Behind Natsu, the rest of Sabertooth (That weren't holding their captives) walked into their view, taking threatening, imposing poses.

The two figures seemed to have common sense and said,"She's not with us, she was taken to Haregon, her powers and magic was sealed, we don't know if she was sold yet or not.."

"We were planning to stop you, but it looks like we're outmatched.." The taller one said, then pointed to Natsu. "Don't think we will forget this, Natsu Dragneel.. This is the second time you managed to get away from us, we _will _meet again" Before anyone could stop them, they pulled out a device that transported them away in swirls of dark magic.

As soon as they were gone, the boat gave a huge lurch, and it started heading towards Haregon once more. Everyone looked at Natsu confusedly, and with concern. Inwardly groaning, Natsu crossed his arms, turning to the Sabertooth mages with an uncomfortable smile. "Well.. Guess I have a lot to explain.. Don't I?" He said in an awkward tone.

"Hell yeah you do," They all said at once.

– – – – –

After he told his story about what he had been through in the past seven years, showing his metal chest, arm, and leg for proof. Everyone looked shocked, even Lector. They couldn't believe what Natsu had been through. Sting could only imagine the trauma Natsu got from watching the deaths of innocent people, including this Ayame figure.

"Wow.. Natsu.. Are you sure you're okay now?" Yukino asked, and Natsu nodded. "I'm okay, I've lived with it for seven years, and if it hadn't happened I wouldn't have found all these new things, become smarter, and made great new friends" He said the last part smiling at all of them, showing his canines.

Sting let a happy smirk grow on his face, managing to keep his seasickness as bay. "Hai, I agree with that!" The rest of Sabertooth agreed happily, making Natsu smile wider.

"Land-Ho!" The captain called as they pulled into port.

"Here we go, time to find Minerva!" Frosch exclaimed excitedly, bounding off the boat excitedly and running onto the dock, reminding Natsu painfully if Happy.

Following them down, he was abruptly met with memories of meeting Lucy, and it made his heart clench painfully. Running into Bora, eating a meal and embarrassingly thanking her, battling Bora, and bringing her to Fairy Tail. He let a memory filled smile appear on his face, before hopping off the boat with everyone else.

"Okay, we have to figure out where she could possibly be, I suggest we fan out and search," He suggested, and surprisingly, everyone nodded calmly. Sting replied,"We should all take a different part of the town, if you find something, raise your magic level loud enough for us to sense it"

Everyone nodded before splitting up to search.

– – – – –

Natsu felt extremely exhausted, they had been searching for several hours. He and Rufus were searching together now, having run into each other and thinking it'd be easier. However, the blonde was starting to get impatient, and complaining loudly.

"This is ridiculous!" Rufus snapped, stomping down another alleyway,"Sting didn't even say when we were gonna get back together and sleep! I'm tired of this crap!"

Natsu ran up to him. "Rufus, shh! It's late, people'll get suspicious.." He said firmly, and Rufus growled. "I just wanna know how much longer we're gonna have to deal with this bullsh-"

_Crack_

_**CRASH!**_

The floor from underneath them cracked away, they let out cries of surprise, falling down and crashing onto the dirty ground beneath. Rufus landing on top of Natsu, hacking out a breath of air in pain. "Ow.. Remind me to never fall on you again, your metal is painful.." He groaned, Natsu chuckled underneath him and muttered,"Noted and filed.."

They stumbled to their feet, Natsu gasped and pulled his cloak up, covering his nose and groaning at the smell that reached his sensitive nose. It smelt of human waste, blood, and sweat.. Plainly putting it smelled awful. The smell reached Rufus suddenly, as he made a puking noise and grabbed at his coat, covering his own mouth and nose.

Natsu looked around the darkness, before reaching his metal hand out to find a wall they could lean on for a moment. His hand made contact with the wall, but made a peculiar clinking noise. Confused, Natsu placed his normal hand on the wall too, and frowned. "Metal or crystal.." He said,"I can't tell.. The texture is too smooth for proper calculations.." Natsu used his normal hand, lighting it aflame and looking back at the wall.

Rufus couldn't hold in a gasp of shock, looking at the walls, that were all entirely made of beautifully colored crystals. Natsu gasped and placed his hands on the wall again. "This is beautiful! These are Rhodonite and Amethyst crystals I have ever seen! Look! There's even Sapphire crystals in the ceiling! I think I see some Aura Quartz too!" Natsu rambeled on excitedly.

Holding up his hands with amusement, Rufus said,"Whoa dude, quit nerding out on me.. I don't know what the hell your talking about" Natsu blushed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, chuckling in embarrassment. "Sorry.. Maybe I should forget about the crystals for a moment, we have to explore this place and see if Minerva is down here.." He suggested.

"Hai, Hai.. I'll raise my magic for them to sense.." Rufus said, doing it before Natsu could refuse, then they both covered their noses again, using Natsu's flames as a light source. They found one spiral path down and up, but they were starting to lose hope of finding anything when they heard footsteps. Natsu grabbed Rufus, getting rid of his flames and ducking behind a crystal jutting out of the wall.

"I swear I heard someone!" A voice said, coming closer. There was another, deeper voice, that scoffed in annoyance and replied,"Shut up, it was probably some of the cargo, you're worrying over nothing" Natsu released a breath he didn't realize he was holding, but then had to stop a gasp as he heard the footsteps coming closer instead of going away.

Rufus looked at Natsu and mouthed 'We can take them'. Natsu nodded and mouthed back 'Wait until we see them'. Rufus replied with a nod, and they backed up a little more. Natsu's metal hand made a clinking noise by accident, and he bit his lip with a wince.

"See?! There _is_ something down here!" The first voice exclaimed. The second voice growled and said,"_Fine_, I'll get some other people down here and we can search"

Natsu knew this was their only chance, he and Rufus jumped out from behind the crystal, catching the two men off guard. "What the-!" The deeper voiced one yelled, before Natsu clamped his metal hand over the man's mouth, blocking the man's scream. Rufus had the other one held in a tight headlock.

"Now, tell us about this cargo of yours, do you have any Sabertooth members with that 'cargo'?" Rufus snarled with a surprising amount of venom in his tone. So much in fact, the man in his arms gulped fearfully, and started to tremble in terror.

The man Natsu had yelled against the metal hand over his mouth, probably something along the lines of 'Don't tell them anything!" However, it didn't pass Natsu's hands. The scrawnier man already had spilled,"We do! We do! We have her under quarantine as orders from the people who brought her!"

"Thanks for the information, I'm afraid this is the end of our conversation," Natsu said quietly, tightening his hold around the man's neck until he fell unconscious. Rufus dropped his guy and said,"Take us there, don't even think about running"

Just then, the rest of Sabertooth ran down the hall, bumping into Natsu and nearly making him fall. "Whoa, sorry.." Sting whispered, and Rufus merely rolled his eyes, pushing at the man, and saying,"Lead the way"

The man swallowed fearfully, and then started walking down the maze of crystal tunnels, shaking fearfully the entire time, but he managed to be smart enough not to run away, especially since there were more than two people now. He brought them to a large room, filled with cages and fearful women and men, all of them turned and looked at Natsu and Sabertooth hopefully.

Natsu looked for Minerva, and frowned upon noticing she didn't seem to be in this room, maybe if they scouted out and looked-

"_**GUYS! HELP! SABE-"**_

Sting quickly punched the man in the back of the head, effectively knocking him out. But it was too late, they had been heard. At least thirty people galloped into the room, all burly men and tough guys. "Well, if I knew this was a party I would have dressed up, we haven't even gone through introductions yet!" Natsu said in a fake cheerful tone. This confused the burly men, who cocked their heads to the side. _Obviously more brawn than brains, that's easy to see.._ Natsu thought.

"Well! I'm Natsu Dragneel, this is the whole Sabertooth Guild! Now, time to fight!" He exclaimed, and Sting smirked. He knew what Natsu was doing. He was attempting to shock the burly men with their identities and give them the upper hand. It worked, the men looked panicked for a moment, and Natsu dashed forward, punching the nearest one and sending him sprawling across the ground.

Sting let out a battle cry, dashing at the closest one, kicking him in the stomach. By now, they had regained their senses, and the real battle began.

Frosch watched for a moment before running over to the man Rogue had knocked down and grabbing the keys, running over to the cages and beginning to unlock them. "Fro is helping you guys out! The exit it that way!" The exceed said cheerfully, pointing to the crystal hallway.

One girl hugged Frosch, saying,"Thank you all so much!" Before she ran down the hallway with the rest of the escapees. Frosch looked back towards the battle, seeing Yukino had summoned Libra to fight, Dobengal was using his speed and fists, Orga and Rufus were merely punching, Sting was as well, Rogue transitioned from using Dragon Slayer magic to punches, and Natsu was using flames and his intellect to trick and conquer. Lector was unlocking the cages with Frosch, when they noticed a doorway type archway made of crystals.

"Think Minerva is in there?" Lector asked gruffly, and Frosch nodded, dashing towards it, not hearing Lector's warning. Running into the dark hallway, Frosch saw a crystal made cage, trapping a blurred figure, he couldn't make it out. Suddenly there was a loud roar, Frosch turned around to find himself face to face with a large monstrous animal. He couldn't help it, he screamed.

Just when Natsu thought the battle was over, he heard the terrified screech of Frosch. Rogue gasped, and called out for his Exceed friend, only to hear another scream. "_FROSCH!_" He cried out, dashing towards the room, ignoring Sting's orders for him to wait, because it could be dangerous. He ran into the room and gasped in terror, seeing a giant panther like creature, it's snout covered in drool and blood, whose blood Rogue didn't want ti know, it had jagged teeth, it's fur spiked up and tail puffed in anger.

"Guys!" He cried out, turning to see Natsu and Sting dashing into the room, eyes widening as well. Rogue would never admit it, but he turned to Natsu with terror in his eyes, he knew Natsu was smart enough to come up with something, he was depending on Natsu once more, and he prayed to whatever god was listening that the dragon slayer genius mind would come up with something, _anything_ to stop this monster.

Natsu knew this, and his mind was examining everything in the room. There was a large collar around the monster's neck, and a wire leading into the crystal cage. "Whoever is in there is having their magic taken to power the mutation of this creature, if we could break the wire over there it might go back to normal.." He said softly, not moving under the gaze of the large monster, that was even taller than Orga.

"Someone distract it.." He said, and Yukino replied,"Libra, think you can distract it?" Libra didn't say anything, just nodded her head, jumping at the creature and moving in front of it, it's white snout raised up, showing large fangs with a snarl. Natsu slunk closer, trying to reach the wire. It suddenly let out an enormous roar, having seen Natsu, raising a giant paw and slamming it down right where Natsu was just a second ago, sending tiny, sharp pieces of crystal flying everywhere, hitting everyone despite their attempts to shield themselves.

Suddenly, a good, crazy idea it Natsu's brain. He was right next to the crystal cage, he jumped next to it and yelled,"_HEY!_ Come here you overgrown house cat! Come and get me!" The monster growled, facing him with angry eyes, and roared again, raising his paw and slashing at Natsu again. Natsu quickly ducked again, hitting the ground after hearing a large crash, and more crystals shooting around, Natsu shakil got to his feet, crystals were stuck into his normal arm, and parts of his face.

"_**MINERVA!**_" Sting cried out, Natsu looked over and saw the missing Sabertooth member unconscious in what was left of the crystal cage, she looked deathly pale, the wire was around her neck and arms, even being this close Natsu could feel his magic being sucked away. "Natsu! Look out!" Yukino cried, and Natsu jumped up as the paw swung once more. However, this time it hit his leg, sending him sprawling and crashing into the crystal cage, he cried out in pain, feeling sharp ends of crystals stick into his back.

The monster turned around, and roared again, jumping at the Sabertooth guild members. Natsu growled and began tugging at the wires, but they wouldn't budge, he bit st them, tried to cut them. Nothing was working. Panicking, Natsu picked up Minerva bridal style, jumping out the cage, he placed his normal hand against her heart, feeling her heartbeat. _'It's way higher than it should be, she won't last much longer unless we cut this wire.. But it won't budge!'_ Natsu looked up at Sting. "Sting! We have to get the collar off that thing for these wires to stop working!" He yelled, slightly panicky.

Sting could hear the panic in Natsu's voice, he could see Minerva close to death, he knew they had to do something. "Rogue!" He yelled, grabbing his fellow Dragon Slayer's hand, and said,"Unison raid!" Rogue nodded, and they pushed their power together, blasting a huge ball of energy at the monster, it hit him, knocking him to the ground. It made the whole hideout shake dangerously, however, the collar only cracked.

"That wasn't enough?!" Rufus cried out, panic filling his eyes. _'That was one of their strongest attacks, if it didn't work what will?!'_ He thought in fear.

Natsu's mind was running, and he knew that attack was strong, but even hitting it a second time wouldn't do much. They needed more power. Natsu slunk closer, and then dashed next to Sting. "Add me in the spell!" He yelled.

"What?! Are you crazy?! This spell was only made for two mages!" Sting cried out. "Then we'll make our own spell!" Rogue said, agreeing with Natsu. The monster had climbed back to it's four feet, roaring again, making to jump for them, and Sting yelped in surprise and said,"Alright! Let's do it!"

They clasped hands, Natsu forced out a large amount of magic, along with Rogue and Sting, the power started to make the room shake, but it didn't phase the monster. He roared loudly and dashed towards them, as Natsu said,"Now!" They let go the swirling mass of power, it hit the monster, and then it exploded, sending plumes of smoke, light, and darkness all over. Natsu breathed easily, but others were coughing. The dragon slayer looked down and saw the collar, broken and covered in crackling bits of ashes. The wire was broken, having been melted off in the blast, there was a huge hole in the ceiling, crystals shattered everywhere.

Rogue had run over, picking up Minerva gently, whose color was slowly coming back to her face. Natsu looked around for the monster, looking down he saw something that shocked him completely. "P-Pantherlily?!" He stuttered, running over to the exceed and picking him up, shaking in terror and shock. _'Oh lord.. Those monsters.. They did that to you?!'_ He thought in terror. The exceed was unconscious in his arms, but Natsu could see him breathing and sighed in relief.

Natsu stood up, holding the exceed gently, walking over to Minerva, making crystals roll around him. "She should be okay, her magic core was extremely depleted and she might be out for a few days, no outward injuries I can see.." He explained gently, and Sting nodded quietly. "Let's head back to Sabertooth," He said, walking out with Rogue.

Yukino looked at Natsu and said,"I know that look, take some of the crystals Natsu, I bet they'd be good to study anyways.." Natsu gave her a grateful smile, reaching down, and using one of his hands to support Pantherlily, while the other scooped at least a pound or two of the peculiar crystals, before returning his bag to his back and following Yukino.

– – – – –

Natsu and the whole Sabertooth guild were shocked, when they climbed back into the open to be greeted by what was probably the entire town, and the people they saved, cheering excitedly and running up to them.

"Thank you all so much! You saved us! You saved this town! You're heroes!" One older looking man say, running up and shaking each of their hands.

Rogue looked extremely embarrassed as he said,"We only did what any person with a heart would have done" One women gave a soft hum of appreciation, before saying,"And so modest too! You are just a big group of heroes! Thank you all!"

"May we have your names?" The man asked hopefully,"We wish to honor you the right way" Still looking flustered, Sting introduced everyone, including Natsu. Everyone looked shocked at finding out Natsu was alive, when asked how Natsu just said that it was too long a story to tell.

"Is there anything we can give you for helping us?" The man asked, and honestly Natsu thought they had done enough, but if they really wanted to he knew there was absolutely no way they could stop him. "Well.. We need a place to stay for a few days.. A boat home, and some food, some of us haven't eaten in days, even weeks," Sting explained calmly, and Natsu could hear the guilt in the man's voice, he was probably extremely worried about Minerva.

"Of course! Anything for you guys! We'll rent out our best hotel!" He exclaimed, grabbing Sting's hand and dragging the mage away with a surprising grip. Natsu let a soft chuckle escape his lips before following him, along with the rest of Sabertooth.

They were each given a luxurious hotel room, Natsu was even pretty surprised, even more surprised when Yukino ran over to him, telling him Minerva had woken up. Dashing into the room, he found all of Sabertooth already there. Minerva was being helped up by Rogue, and looked around confusedly, before asking,"What happened? I remember us being captured by.. And then.."

Sting walked forward, and he began explaining. "They took you away Minerva, and were using your magic to power things, even turn exceeds into monsters. Natsu found me and Rogue and rescued us, took us back to Sabertooth and healed us, and we went looking for you, we found you, we're happy about that, for a while we thought we were never gonna see you again, I'll have to explain the bigger details later," He explained, and Minerva looked towards Natsu with a surprising amount of gratitude and shock.

"Never thought I'd see the day when a Fairy Tail mage helped the Sabertooth guild," She said in amusment, a smirk on her face.

Natsu smirked back and said,"Who knows, maybe that day will come again soon.." Minerva chuckled and nodded in agreement. "I owe you one Natsu, you really helped us all, even pulled us closer together, what can I do?" She asked.

Natsu sighed and said,"You don't owe me anything, it was an honor to help Sabertooth, the only thing I ask in return is.. Can we be friend and not rivals?" Minerva looked surprised at the request, and seemed to think about it for a moment, before nodding and shaking Natsu's hand. "Alright, friends.." She said," Oh, and if you ever need any help, or just want to see us, you're welcome to"

"Thank you," Natsu said with a soft smile towards his new friends.

– – – – –

It was a day later, when Natsu was examining the crystals from the cave when Pantherlily woke up, Natsu had him on the bed, curled up in the blankets for warmth, when the Exceed blearily opened his eyes, pulled the blankets off from around him, looking around curiously. Natsu heard the movement, and turned to look over at him curiously, and smiled in relief. "Good to see you awake," He said gently.

Pantherlily looked at Natsu with wide eyes, and asked,"N-n-natsu?! A-am I dead?" Natsu shook his head, feeling a little more worried now. He swerved the chair around so he was facing the exceed. "No, you're as alive as I am," He said calmly, and Pantherlily shook a bit.

"B-b-but I.. I remember s-seeing you.. You got blown up!" Pantherlily cried out in panic,"W-we saw you get blown up!"

"Don't believe everything you see, I nearly did die, but I was blown up and sent into the water, I lost my limbs and part of my chest, but I was rescued and recovered, I learned some stuff and became smarter, so yeah, I'm still alive," He said, and Pantherlily was still staring, his eyes wide at the sight of Natsu's metal arm, as he had rolled up his sleeve so he could see the metal limb.

"I see.. Well.. It's good to know you're alive Natsu-kun.. But.. How did I get here? What happened?" He asked worriedly, and started to panic a little more when a troubled look crossed over Natsu's face. "Natsu please tell me!" He said fearfully, hoping he hadn't hurt anyone.

Natsu begrudgingly explained, and Patherlily's terror grew bigger and bigger with every passing second. "I-I-I.. I could have hurt people! D-do you know?" He asked worriedly, too confused to act grumpy. Natsu shook his head gently, pushing his glasses up in nose. "Not that we know of, since we don't know how long they've been using magic to make you act like that, we don't know for sure, but you're fine now," Natsu said, trying to be comforting.

Pantherlily sighed shakily and said,"W-what will I do now? I probably hurt people.. Gajeel is.. Is dead.. What will I do?!" Natsu frowned sadly and sat next to Pantherlily. "You can always stay with me.. If it makes you feel any better.." Natsu said hopefully, honestly he wouldn't mind having a companion or someone to talk to, since he'd been alone the better part of a year, he wouldn't mind having someone to talk to.

"Okay.. But where would we go?" He asked curiously, and Natsu shrugged. "Anywhere! We could travel, relax, anything! It's up to us!" He said cheerfully, and Pantherlily smiled happily and nodded, gaining a large grin from Natsu in return.

Natsu went back to a plate, pulling a few Kiwis and placed them in front of the exceed, who tried to keep a smile off his face and gruffly said,"Thank you" Before he dug in.

Going back to his microscope, Natsu looked at the cystals once more, finding strange particles was surrounding the real crystal. Natsu used one of his smaller tools to scrape the stuff off and put it under the microscope, it was nearly invisible. 'Strange.. What is this stuff?' He wondered, zooming in closer, and finding the thing to be some type of protective substance on the crystal, it didn't do anything other than protect. _'Protect from what? People or the crystals?'_ He wondered curiously,

Natsu sighed, thinking _'I'm going to regret this..'_ He reached forward with his normal hand, picking up the crystal and cried out in shock, dropping it when a surge of magic burst through him, he suddenly felt better, better than he had since the battle. He looked on his arms and his eyes widened in shock when he realized the wounds on his arm had vanished, he reached his human arm to his cheeks, all the wounds on there were gone too!

"Wh-whoa!" He exclaimed, looking back at the crystal in his hand. Healing magic, and he grinned widely. "This is it! This is what I've been looking for! Oh I found it!" He jumped up from his chair excitedly, making Pantherlily grumble about noise.

Natsu frowned, he knew this type of power would be too dangerous to carry around him his bag or in his pocket, maybe if he could find a way to learn to control the magic, use it to heal his friends and family, so he couldn't have to see anyone die. He felt at his chest, nothing had changed there, if he had to guess it could only heal wounds from a certain time, but that wasn't important.

He grabbed his bag, taking out the crystals he found and scaring off the protective substance. He wondered how he was going to do this.. _'Maybe I could break it open and take the magic?'_ He wondered if that was another stupid idea, then thought he had nothing to lose, except another limb but he could deal with that easily.

Natsu sawed open the crystal carefully, and cried out again as a crack of magic flashed across the room. Pantherlily cried out in surprise, dropping his half eaten Kiwi and looking over. Slightly fearful, when the red and blue energy flowed into the form of a butterfly. Natsu shakily held out a finger curiously, wondering what it was, how it was there.

The butterfly landed on his finger, and seemed to settle, before Natsu felt a soft feeling in his chest, and he heard a soft voice said,"_Such a pure, yet trouble soul..I think you are the one.._" Natsu looked confused, his mind frantically searching for an answer.

"_Young one.. Only a person with a pure heart and the desire to use our healing powers for good could use out magic.._" She said softly,"_The followers of Zeref tried to harness out powers, but they were not pure of heart_" Pantherlily gasped in surprise, looking over, Natsu saw the rest of the magic from the crystals had turned into a giant flock of magic butterflies, more than there were crystals. Natsu guessed they came from the cave they found.

"What should I call you? What are your powers?" He asked curiously, and he heard soft giggles from them and the one on his finger replied,"Call us.. Kessho, you can call on us whenever you need us. As for the powers, you already know one, healing.. The rest you must figure out when the time comes.." They butterflies swirled around him, and he could feel the magic entering with his dragon slayer magic, merging with them, and the room went back to the original artificial lighting.

"What the crap! Natsu that was awesome!" Pantherlily exclaimed in shock, and Natsu grinned, and said,"Just a new adventure every day huh?" Pantherlily chuckled and said,"Agreed!"

– – – – –

"So this is where we part ways?"

Natsu was standing at the docks with Sabertooth, they were about to head back to their guild, but Natsu and Pantherlily had other plans. "Yeah, me and Pantherlily are going to travel and train for a while," He said, and Pantherlily nodded from his shoulder.

Sting grinned and said,"Well remember to come visit us Natsu, don't be a stranger okay?" Natsu smiled gently and nodded,"Of course, you think I'll forget the adventure we had?" One thing of Natsu that hadn't changed was he loved to keep memoirs of his adventures, he had the crystals (He kept a few), pictures, and several other things. Sabertooth shook hands with Natsu, even hugging him, before they boarded the boat.

"Bye Natsu! See you again someday!" Yukino yelled as the boat took off, waving happily with Frosch jumped up and down beside her. Natsu chuckled and waved back. "Bye guys! See you again!" He called back.

Once the boat was out of view, he looked at Pantherlily and grinned. "Ready to go?" He asked eagerly, the exceed grinned back and said,"You know it!"

– – – – –

A few months later

– – – – –

Zeref looked down at his crystal ball, using his magic to look into it, he could see Natsu walking with that Exceed into a new town and smiled.

""Soon Natsu," He said gently,"Soon, I will reopen the cave, and you will remember, and regain your powers.. Your immortality.. Brother.. You will remember soon"

– – – – –

Natsu sighed in relief as he plopped down in the restaurant booth, Pantherlily next to him. He pulled off his new black rimmed glasses, rubbing his eyes wearily, running a hand through his long salmon hair, with his bangs falling into his eyes and spiking up all over the place, but reaching down to her shoulders. Natsu was wearing a cloak that went around his shoulders with no sleeves, his scarf wrapped around his neck as usual, it went down to his waist. Underneath it, he was wearing a tank top, his metal hand bandaged with a glove to hide it, and wearing black pants with black boots. Pantherlily was next to him, he had two swords on his back, new pants (His old ones were torn) Natsu's backpack was black, with white strings, and filled nearly to the brim with books, storage scrolls, tools, and several other things.

A cheerful waiter walked over to the two Fairy Tail members and asked,"What can I get you to drink?" Natsu smiled and replied,"I'll have a cherry smoothie" Patherlily looked up and asked,"Do you have Kiwi smoothies?" The waiter nodded calmly and Pantherlily said,"I'll take a large!" The women looked surprised before handing them menus, walking off and returning with their drinks quickly.

"Thank you," Natsu said, sipping his drink happily. Pantherlily was gulping his down happily. Ordering their food, Natsu looked at Pantherlily and said,"I think we've done all the training we could, where should we go next?" Pantherlily shrugged, and replied,"We've been so many places, taken so many missions, what else can we do"

"Did you hear the news about Fairy Tail?!" They heard a voice say, Natsu and Pantherlily looked over, seeing a group of people sitting around each other. "Yeah! The people who were all missing for years! Turns out they're alive! They found them somehow!" Another said.

"Do you think they're going to be competing in the Grand Magic Games?!" Another asked excitedly, and the older women said,"No I don't think so, not after whatever they went through all those seven years!"

Natsu's eyes widened, he looked towards Pantherlily, who had the same look of hope in his teary eyes. "N-N-Natsu.. Do- Do you think it's- it's true..? Gajeel.. Gajeel and the others.. All of Fairy Tail.. Are really alive..?" He asked hopefully.

Feeling tears in his eyes, Natsu gave a hopeful grin and replied,"Only one way to find out, is there?"

About ten minutes later, the waitress walked over, asking,"Everything okay ove-" She stopped, looking in surprise as the food and drinks were sitting there half eaten, the right amount of money plus a tip on the table. The customers originally eating the food were already boarding a boat, a boat to Mongolia, a boat to the Fairy Tail Guild.


	7. Chapter 7

_**Next chapter of Dreams of an Absolution! Hope you guys enjoy, did you like the long chapter I gave you last time? Maybe I can do it again, but we shall see! Anyways, ONTO THE STORY! This is the chapter.. The chapter where Natsu finally returns to Fairy Tail! Enjoy you guys!**_

– – – – –

To say Lucy was confused was an understatment, they had been rescued from Tenrou island and brought back to their guild, learning that seven whole years had passed since they nearly died at Tenrou, and they protected Romeo from some people trying to attack him. Now they were back, and everyone was freaking out.

"Oh my gosh! You're so young!" Laki squealed.

"What happened?!" Jet cried out.

Lucy rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly and said,"Well.. It's kind of hard to explain.." Romeo's eyes were wide as he looked back and forth, around at all the faces while Lucy gave a short explanation of what happened, and he looked up, abruptly asking,"Where is Natsu?" Suddenly, all of the Tenrou group flinched, even people like Gajeel and Laxus. Lucy let out a chocked sob, and looked down and away, tears tumbling down her cheeks.

Erza shakily answered, for the first time in a long time, trying to hold in tears of her own, tears she hadn't felt in a long time. "N-Natsu.. Didn't make it.." She whispered, and heard the gasps of terror from Fairy Tail.

"What do you mean by.. Didn't make it?" Romeo asked with tearful eyes, trying to deny the truth. Erza let out a choked sob, and said,'He-He was protecting us.. A-Acnolgia..Blew him up.. His limbs were blown off.. H-he got blown up! He died! Natsu _died_ in front of us all! If I had been faster!" Everyone was shocked as almost all of the Tenrou group began to tear up and cry.

Romeo was shaking with terror, his eyes widened and shaking in terror. "N-n-no.. Natsu..." He whispered, shaking in terror, he collapsed to his knees. He broke down into sobs, crying Natsu's name over and over again. Happy, who was in tears as well, collapsed on Romeo's shoulder, higging the boy and crying as well. Lucy soon joined them, a solemn mood fell over Fairy Tail, all mourning for the death of their bravest mage.

Little did they know he was very much alive, and he and a fellow companion were heading towards Mongolia as they spoke..

– – – – –

Natsu smiled gently at the spray of sea water hitting his face, listening to the idle chatter around him on the boat. Pantherlily was resting in his room, the exceed had worn himself out, wanting to get to Fairy Tail as soon as possible, to the point Natsu had to use Kessho to put the exceed to sleep so he wouldn't get sick or hurt himself.

Looking up at the sky, he frowned. It was already almost midnight, he was starting to get impatient. He knew it was at least a two day ride to Mongolia, depending on the weather and speed of the ship. His observation mind told him from the speed they were going they should get there in at least a day, and he had already been on the boat for almost a day, and all he could see was open water. Natsu frowned, walking back to his room and plopping down on the bed, Patherlily was asleep on his pillow, a butterfly made of blue and red energy resting contently next to him.

Natsu smiled and looked at the butterfly, before reaching for his backpack, muscles ripping from the stretch, and pulled out his journal. He had started keeping one after Ayame had saved him, she told him she loved to write down the things and adventures she had, so she would never forget them. The thought of Ayame brought pangs to his heart, and he quickly began writing down the day's adventure so far, the boat was too rickety for him to sketch without it looking like he was dying while drawing it.

After another hour of just sitting or reading, Natsu recalled the butterfly, which dissolved into a swirl of magic, returning to Natsu, and Pantherlily's eyes slowly blinked open. The exceed looked around in confusion, before his eyes settled on Natsu. "What..? Are we there yet?! When did I fall asleep!" He asked, jumping to his feet and looking around, panicky once more. Natsu held up both his hands and said,"Don't get mad, but I put you to sleep" 

"What?! Why would-"

"-Would you rather pass out right when we're about to meet up with everyone again?"

That shut Pantherlily up, he looked down, shaking his head. Then, he looked at Natsu's backpack. "Hey Natsu, do you have anything in there we can eat?," He asked, his stomach growling hungrily. Natsu pulled the bag closer and started digging through it, finding a few fruits he had bought from the marketplace before they left. He grabbed an apple for himself and a kiwi for Patherlily. They ate in a calm silence, before Natsu got up, nearly hitting his head on the ceiling.

` "I think we're almost there, wanna go with me to the front of the boat. Panthrlily nodded, climbing on the Dragon Slayer's shoulders, and settling there contently. Nstsu walked back up onto the deck, noticing the sun was starting to come up, setting a beautiful hue of colors around the boat and sky. Smiling, Natsu grabbed his sketchbook, not caring if it looked jagged, and he began to draw the sunrise. Most people on the boat had retired to bed, having been exhausted after the already day long trip. Natsu had slept on the beginning of the boat ride, so he was wide awake.

Looking around, he squinted his eyes, pushing his glasses up his nose, seeing the small outline of Mongolia nearby. "Pantherlily, look! We're almost there!" He exclaimed happily, and Pantherlily let out an uncharacteristic squeal, grabbing Natsu's hand, and his wings popped out, and he began flying off the boat. Natsu cried out in surprise, holding onto their stuff in terror.

"Pantherlily! What the hell are you doing?!" He cried,"Let's just get back on the boat!" Pantherlily continued flying. "No!" He snapped,"It'll take too long! I wanna see Gajeel now!"

Natsu groaned loudly and said,"When we get back on land I swear to whatever god is listening I'm gonna get you back for this!"

– – – – –

A day after returning, Lucy felt way rested than she did before, even though they had technically been asleep the past seven years, she knew Gray, Gajeel and several others were probably training again to get up to speed with the other members. Natsu probably would too if he was still alive.. She thought sadly, blinking several times to stop the onslaught of tears. She would always be traumatized by that, watching Natsu die. Hopefully it was quick and painless. She got up and headed to the Guild Hall. Hoping to have a little less of a stressful day, and the first thing she heard once walking inside was cries of panic.

"Whoa! What's going on?!" She asked worriedly, and Bisca ran over to her, panic in her eyes. "Asuka is missing!" She cried out,"She was at home yesterday and this morning she vanished, Lucy please help us search!"

Marakov was the first to speak, saying,"We'll all look! Everyone search Mongolia, don't stop until you find her!"

"Yes sir!"

Lucy ran outside along with the rest of Fairy Tail, they began searching around town, looking for the young girl fearfully, worried about what could have happened to her. _Don't worry Asuka, we'll find you! Please be safe! _Lucy thought worriedly.

– – – – –

Natsu collapsed on the dock, crashing onto the tiled ground, and groaning in pain. He got up, putting his stuff back into the backpack before Pantherlily got any more crazy ideas, slinging it on his back. "Okay, we are at Mongolia, are you done?" He asked in a pissy tone. Pantherlily nodded, flying into the air and frowning. "What's the matter?" He asked, and Pantherlily looked down.

"I can't see the Guild Hall! It's gone!" He said worriedly. Natsu frowned, rubbing his head as he wondered in confusion what had happened. "Maybe it was rebuilt?" Pantherlily suggested worriedly, rubbing his paws together and plopping onto Natsu's head.

Natsu patted the exceed's head, trying to comfort his fears, and said,"Maybe we could look around?" He felt Pantherlily nod under his hand, and they started walking into town. They ignored the loud chatter of people going about their every day, Natsu walked to where Fairy Tail was, but there was no Guild Hall there. Frowning again, Natsu walked back into town, looking around and pretty much ready to ask for directions, even though Pantherlily would rather die than ask for directions, when he heard a scream of fear.

Thanks to his sensitive ears, Natsu knew exactly where it was coming from. Dashing from where he was, and bumping into people, he saw a burly man dragging a little girl towards what looked like a run down building, and the girl was struggling, he had put a hand over her mouth. "Hey!" He snapped,"Let her go!" The little girl looked and saw him, and began struggling again, trying to get towards the salmon haired mage.

"Why should I? She's my daughter," The man said in a fake kind tone, a crowd was starting to form, and Natsu glared, noticing the little girl shaking her head, trying to make sure the man didn't notice. "No she's not," Natsu hissed,"Let her go"

The man seemed to realize his bluff wasn't going to do anything to Natsu, as he switched tactics. He puffed his chest out, attempting to look intimidating and failing. "Or what?" He sneered, giving a victorious grin. Natsu stood up to his full height, at least three inches taller than the other man. "Or you deal with me," He hissed, and could see the fear in the man's eyes, but he didn't back down.

"Think I'm scared of you, I'm stronger than you," He said in a cocky tone. Natsu snorted and asked,"Oh really? Then you must be _so _strong if you could manage to capture that little girl, I'm _so_ scared! What are you gonna do? Take my lunch money?"

"Shut up!" He yelled, throwing a punch blindly, Natsu caught it and squeezed hard, snapping the man's wrist and making him cry in pain, letting go in the girl to hold the wrist he had broken. The little girl ran to him, grabbing his pant leg and hiding behind him, shivering in fear.

"You little punk!" The man snapped, and charged at Natsu, who kicked at him with the leg that wasn't being hugged by the little girl, which just happened to be his metal leg. It send the man flying, crashing into the ground with a yelp of pain. The crowd laughed at the man, cheering for Natsu, who ignored it and turned to the little girl, who threw her arms around his neck, wrapping her legs around her torso. Natsu felt his shoulder grow wet as she sobbed against him, Natsu quickly wrapped both arms around the girl to keep her from falling backward by accident. "All you alright sweetie?" He asked, and the little girl hugged his neck tighter, nodding against him.

"Where are your parents, do you know where they are?" He asked, and the little girl shakily whispered,"I-I don't know where they are.. Do you know?" Natsu smiled gently and got to his feet, propping the girl against his hip and lifting his other hand palm-up. The little girl gasped in awe as a blue and red butterfly showed up in his palm, wings flapping up and down softly.

The little girl gasped, holding out her hand to touch it, and giggling as the magic healed the bruises on her wrist. "Kessho? Can you lead her to her parents? I know you can keep her safe while I look for Fairy Tail," He said, and the butterfly fluttered in a content manner, before replying,_"Of course Natsu-sama, come little one, I will take you home.."_ Natsu placed the girl on the ground, and smiled happily as the butterfly brushed the girl's nose, making the girl giggle excitedly.

"Hey, don't I get a name before you go running off?" He asked teasingly, making the girl gasp and run back over to him. "My name is Asuka, thank you for saving me Mr. Natsu! But why aren't you coming with me?" She asked, her young mind jumping from one subject to another so fast her mouth could hardly keep up. Natsu knelt to her level and gave a sincere smile, showing the shaken girl he wasn't annoyed by the question. "I really would love to, but I'm looking for my nakama, I haven't seen them in years, so think of it this way.. We're both on a very important mission, after my mission, I'll come back and see you, okay?"

Asuka's eyes sparkled with excitement the moment he said mission, and she nodded excitedly. "Yeah! Yeah! I will finish my mission too! Thank you Mr. Natsu! See you again soon!" She exclaimed, waving happily as she dashed into the crowd, following the glowing form of Kessho, Natsu grinned and got up, looking at Pantherlily, who was smiling as well. As soon as he saw Natsu looking, he frowned again. Natsu gave a laugh and said,"I thought you didn't like being sentimental!"

"But.. But she was so_** Adorable!**_" He cried out, collapsing with a groan on Natsu's head, his spiky locks covering the exceed's face. Natsu rolled his eyes, and walked around, confused at where Fairy Tail could be. His mind started calculating quickly, since he got frustrated when there was no answer to an obvious question. _Okay.. I remember reading that Fairy Tail's guild was destroyed, then the grand magic games came along and Fairy Tail was no longer the strongest guild and were made fun of and disgraced, which means Mongolia would be less excited to rebuild a guild hall for such a 'weak' guild, __especially with them probably bankrupt..__A__nd they would have to relocate to somewhere more remote in order to get away from all of that like._. "The mountains!" He exclaimed, clapping his hands together, and feeling successful. "Wuh?" Patherlily asked confusedly, and Natsu replied,"I know where they are! I know where the Guild is!" He took of, running through the crowd and towards the mountains, feeling an excitement he hadn't felt in a long time.

– – – – –

Fairy Tail had relocated back in the run-down Guild hall unsuccessfully, and Bisca had broken down in sobs. Just then, the door opened, and a blue and red butterfly flew in, followed by Asuka. "Mommy!" The little girl squealed, making the green haired woman shoot her head up and gasp, engulfing the little girl in a hug. "Where were you?! We were so worried about you!" Azlack cried out, joining the hug and shaking sadly.

"I didn't leave on purpose!" Asuka said, climbing onto a seat and beginning her story. "This big man grabbed me and tried to kidnap me!" She exclaimed, gaining gasps as all the members walked forward to listen, worried about the little girl. "But then this guy came and he stopped the other man! He punched him, boom! Then he broke his wrist and kicked him in the stomach! Then he used his magic and gave me a butterfly that brought me back to you guys!"

Azlack seemed suspicious, and asked,"Who did he say he was?" He was worried the butterfly was a tracking device or something. "He said his name was Natsu! He had really pink hair!" Asuka exclaimed, looking confused at the gasps that showed up around her. Lucy felt her hands shaking, as she looked at the small girl, then at her guildmates, glee filling her eyes.

"You know what this mean's right?" She asked excitedly, and Happy nodded from her shoulder and yelled,"_**NATSU'S ALIVE!**_" The exceed's wings popped out, as he flied out of the guild, Lucy and the others dashed outside as well. Happy noticed Natsu first, and screamed,"_**NATSU~!**_" He plowed into Natsu's chest hard enough to send them both tumbling back down the hill. However, instead of being angry or scared, both Natsu and Happy were laughing in excitement at seeing each other again. Lucy dashed after them down the hill, stumbling down and then hugging Natsu around the neck, making him fall down again.

Lucy buried her face into Natsu's chest sobbing in a mix of shock, sadness, and happiness at the sight of her best friend. "Natsu! Natsu! I thought you died! I saw you get blown up! We thought you were dead! But you're not! You're alive! You're alive!" She sobbed against him, feeling his strong arms wrap around her, trying to comfort her.

"It's true, luce.. I'm alive, I'm really here.." He said softly, managing to get to his feet, Lucy clinging to him still. The rest of Fairy Tail had gotten to the bottom of the hill, and looked at Natsu in shock. Erza actually had a happy smile on her face, but it vanished in an instant as she said,"You sure have a hell of a lot of explaining to do"

Natsu chuckled and said,"I guess I do indeed, maybe we should take this inside though" Gray seemed still in shock, and his shirt had vanished again. Marakov shakily walked forward, and asked,"N-Natsu.. How did you manage to survive the explosion? We saw you.."

"You saw me get blown up, but you never found a body, I was still alive the whole time, I believed you had all died, as that was the only information I had about the situation," Natsu said calmly,"I believe it would be best if we both enlighten each other on what happened.."

Everyone seemed confused by Natsu's intelligent tone, but Marakov quickly nodded, saying,"Of course" Natsu tried to move, but Lucy refused to let go, in fact her grip was quite painful. "Lucy.. Could you please let go?"

"No"

"Alright then," Natsu said in an exasperated tone, keeping one arm around her back, and moving the other to her knees, making Lucy squeal in surprise as Natsu slung her up in a bridal style position, then followed Marakov up the hill, flanked by Erza on his right and Gray on his left.

None of Natsu's team knew how to react, they had all felt terror and trauma at watching Natsu be blown practically to bits, now here he was, standing alive and well, and way different than they remembered. Erza felt conflicted, on one end, she wanted to hug him close like Lucy was, and never let go of him again, but on the other hand, she wanted to push out all information she could out of him and learn how different Natsu was after the seven years.

Gray felt more confused, he didn't know what to think of Natsu. Where was the brash and loud Flame-brain he had known before Tenrou happened. However, seven years was a long time, and he didn't know what had happened, but he hoped the not-so-much-of-an-idiot-anymore could help him understand.

Lucy was a crazy mix of emotions, she knew one thing, Natsu would never be allowed to leave her sight again. At first she wanted to slap him silly, but then he remembered the pain he must have felt these past seven years, believing they were dead, so hitting him for making them think he was dead would probably just make everyone feel worse.

Once inside, Natsu looked around, his mind instantly making a blueprint and several remodeling ideas in his mind, before he sat down on one of the rickety chairs and said,"Why don't you guys explain what happened on Tenrou, since I feel like that story will be shorter.." Azlack smirked and said,"Hey.. Natsu's is right, you never really explained what happened to you guys! I think you all should go first"

"Fine, Fine!" Marakov snapped,"After Natsu.. Blew up.. We were attacked by Acnolgia again, and he joined hands as we thought were were all going to die, then he sent the blast at us, and we woke up to learn it had been seven years.."

"Strange.. A time stop on Tenrou that rendered you all to be the same age.. most peculiar indeed..," Natsu said softly, rubbing his chin and smiling with amusement. Gray leaned forward and said,"We told you what we know, now it's your turn Natsu"

"Yes, I want every detail," Erza said firmly, surprised when Natsu didn't shake in fear. Lucy looked up from Natsu's chest, nodding in agreement with Erza's deceleration. Natsu chuckled and nodded, everyone leaned forward, and he said,"I guess I should start with how I survived the explosion.." He got eager nods, so Natsu plopped Lucy on the seat and stood up, pulling off his cloak and shirt, revealing his muscles, then took off his bandages and gloves to show the metal parts of his body.

"Oh my gosh.." Levy said in shock, and Natsu found himself feeling uncomfortable under the gazes, and rubbed his hair sheepishly with his normal hand. Erza walked closer, taking Natsu's metal hand in hers, flinching in surprise when Natsu returned the grip. Levy walked closer, excitement in her eyes as she asked,"How does it work?"

Natsu raised his hand, showing it was movable and replied,"It's made out of a flexible metal, and it is filled with wires to act like my nerves and muscles, so it moves and acts like a real arm, same with my leg, they're connected to my real nerves right at the base.. About here.." He pointed to the parts of his chest that was basically scar tissue to show how it worked.

"That's incredible Natsu!" Levy exclaimed,"Works like an arm but made from metal! This is like a way better working prosthetic, imagine all that can be done with it!"

"I know right?" Natsu exclaimed,"There's even a flame generator in it, and a compartment to store stuff in it, that took forever to put in, it's around the middle of my shoulder so it wouldn't get in the way of movement"

Some people tried to keep up with the two nerding out, others gave up within the first few moments, and most were confused by Natsu's sudden intelligence to say anything. "Hey! Stop being weird and get on with it!" Gray snapped.

"Okay, Okay," Natsu said, and began telling his tale. He told about Ayame, his college and gaining his degrees, getting smarter, the attack on his town, Ayame's death (He started to cry at that point, but quickly calmed down), him rebuilding the town, running into Bora, saving Sabertooth and Pantherlily, Gaining Kessho, and the last of his training before finding out Fairy Tail was alive.

There was a shocked silence at the end of his story, and Marakov smiled at Natsu in amusement and said,"You sure have changed Natsu, and I must say you had quite the adventure, but could you explain more about those people that attacked your village?"

Natsu winced, and everyone saw it, he didn't care though, he knew the question would be asked eventually. "Not because I want to bring up bad memories, I think I might have information on them," Marakov said quickly, noticing Natsu's reaction to the question.

"I do too, they're followers of Zeref," Natsu said, gaining a gasp from Marakov and Gildarts and confused looks from Fairy Tail. "Seriously? You don't remember Zeref? The black haired guy we ran into on Tenrou? The Black Wizard, The Killing Mage? Ring a bell?" He asked, usually he would feel a rush of satisfaction at knowing something the others didn't, but this was a matter of life and death, it was important they knew who they were up against.

Erza was the first to catch on. "Yes.. I remember now.. I read about him.. He created all the demons.. He murdered hundreds of people.. You actually managed to fight them?" Everyone looked at Natsu for an answer.

"Yes, I have. I have fought them twice so far.. They have gotten stronger both times.. The second time though, they tried to take me captive, saying I knew too much," He said, gaining gasps of shock.

"What do you have in mind?" Lucy asked, sitting down close to him with worry. Natsu smiled happily and said,"I have located one of their hideouts, they weren't smart when attempting to capture me, they stopped the boat we were on, we had just checked the boat, they had climbed on from underwater, I plotted the destination, I plan to go and sneak in, and gather information"

"Why can't you just blow the place into flames?" Gray asked stupidly, and before anyone could reprimand him, Natsu surprisingly was the one two answer.

"Two reasons, Ice princess, number one, from the information I have gathered, they seem to get stronger each time I see them, so running in like an idiot would end up with us most likley having to retreat, them moving locations, and us losing all leads. Secondly, it's underwater," Natsu said, crossing his arms. Gray blushed in embarrasment and looked down, muttering something.

Marakov's eyes lit up suddenly and he asked,"So.. Natsu.. Before you go do that.. Since you're a carpenter.. Could you remodel this old place for free? Make it as grand and spectacular as the old guild hall?"

Natsu gave a grin much like his old self would, and asked,"Why make this place like that old guild hall, when we can make it even better? Forget about the old Guild building, Gramps, we can make this one a thousand times more spectacular!" He gained excited cheers and agreeing yells from his decleration.

He suddenly looked up, looking at the lights, then started to chuckle. "Also.. You do know that you can have the electricity for free too, right?" He asked, gaining confused looks. "Yeah, there's a way you could wire the windmill and use it and the wind to power the whole building instead of paying for it," He said in amusement, watching Marakov grow enraged.

"Why did nobody _**TELL US ABOUT THIS!**_" He yelled,"_**ALL THE MONEY WE COULD HAVE SAVED! We're fixing that **__**tomorrow**__**!**_"

"One more thing," Natsu suddenly heard someone say, and he turned to find Erza in next to him, having to look up at him now because of his growth in height.

"Yes?"

"I want to fight you Natsu, right now," Erza said, her decleration gaining almost as much shock as Natsu's metal body did. Natsu's eyes widened a bit, and he tilted his head, asking,"Why the sudden change in attitude?"

Erza frowned, obviously expecting Natsu to have jumped at the opportunity like he would have in the past. "You've changed Natsu, that much is obvious, I want to see how much your power has changed too," She said firmly, and held out a armored hand. "Do you accept?"

For a few moments, no one moved or took a breath, then Natsu placed his metal hand into Erza's, shaking it and saying,"Alright, I accept"


	8. Chapter 8

_**Dreams of Absolution Chapter 8! Man you guys love this story, and so do I! I'm excited for the fight, and I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! I have pretty much chosen the ship, but I'll leave some pokes to others as well. I promise this won't be Harem, because most of you seem against that. I hope my choice for the shipping won't influence how you feel about the story, but I can't change your opinion if it does. If you don't like it, please don't flame!**_

_**Anyways..**_

_**Onto the chapter!**_

– – – – –

Marakov had made them go outside for the battle, complaining about how much they would destroy if he let them near the guild, especially since it was Natsu and Erza. All of Fairy Tail was sitting on the sidelines, murmuring excitedly about what might happen. Some had even placed bets on who they thought was going to win. Gildarts and Marakov were sitting nearby, Gildart's calculating eyes watching Natsu curiously. Natsu wasn't yelling or exclaiming his overconfidence in his belief he would win, surprisingly. In fact, Natsu's suddenly intelligent eyes seemed to be planning something, Gildarts had no idea what could be going through the young man's head, but he knew it must be something incredible.

_He wasn't on Tenrou with us.._ Gildarts reminded himself. _He has had seven years of experience and training that all of us don't, who knows what new powers he has.. He never told us what he did while he was training.. I have a feeling this'll be a good fight._ He smirked, bringing his beer to his lips. _Who knows.. Maybe I'll have to challenge Natsu next.._

"Are you ready, Natsu?" Erza asked in a firm tone, not giving away any emotion. Natsu gave a small smirk and asked,"Any rules you want to lay down?" Erza thought for a long moment, before nodding and replying,"No outside help, this shall remain one on one" Natsu nodded in agreement, crossing his arms and looking at Marakov, who was to say when the battle began.

Marakov watched the two for a second, they were both eager for the fight. Even if Erza wouldn't admit it, he could tell. "Begin!" He yelled with excitement.

Natsu didn't move, except to look back at Erza, who was now pulling her sword out. She had obviously expected Natsu to make the first move, or to dash off like an idiot. _I really need to stop thinking of him as the old Natsu, he's much different now, I have to be prepared for anything! _Erza told herself, getting in a defensive position, with her sword in front of her. Natsu watched her for a moment, before smirking, and getting into a fighting position. In his left hand, a sword materialized out of blue and red magic. It was extremely sharp, and the hilt was blue with red wrapped around it.

Erza made the first move, dashing forwards and slicing upward. Natsu leaned back, bringing his sword to catch hers as she attempted to move it back down to hopefully disarm him. With quick, adept movements Natsu pushed her sword back, and nearly knocked her off her feet. If she wasn't concentrated on hopefully winning, she would have lost her footing and the battle would probably be over. Natsu moved forward quickly, slicing at her hit, making her lose the grip on her sword for just a few moments. Using the opportunity, the Dragon Slayer swept his feet out, knocking Erza down.

Erza managed to move her leg as she fell, catching Natsu's ankle and knocking him down along with her. Natsu fell forward, crashing near Erza's legs. Fairy Tail held their breath as both mages seemed dazed for a moment, before Natsu quickly brought out his normal hand, and shot flames out at Erza, trapping her in a sphere of flames. Strangley, the tips of the flames were a blood red, and swirled dangerously. Natsu took the little time he had to recover, getting to his feet, and backing up a few steps.

_Ugh.. He's smarter than I remember in fights, I hope he remembers what I can do.._ Erza thought in bravery. Erza picked up her sword, and said,"Requip!" In a few short seconds, she stood fully in her Flame Empress Armor. A memory filled smile appeared on her Nakama's face, before he stood in a defensive position, obviously prepared for her any move. Spinning as fast as she could, Erza spun around quickly in a circle, slicing through the flames and sending gusts of air around it. The flames now dispersed, Erza turned to pull her sword up, trying to dispel her nausea. Shock filled her system, when she realized that the flames were somehow hot enough to melt her sword down to liquid.

Gasps came from Fairy Tail. _But.. But how?! My armor is supposed to get rid of 50% of flame power.. Did he really get that str-_ Her thoughts were stopped abruptly by being kicked hard enough in the stomach to send her flying back, crashing into a mountain. Erza groaned, shocked Natsu managed to get the jump on her. She couldn't get lost in thought like that again.

Natsu now stood without his sword, both his hands clenched with red flames. She could see slight red and blue energy flowing around him, obviously he had just dispersed the sword. She was still curious about the Kessho that Natsu said he had gained, they apparently had more powers than just healing like Natsu said.

Dashing forward, Erza threw a punch, being intercepted by Natsu's hand, the flames starting to melt Erza's armor again, just at a slower rate than her sword. Erza took advantage of this to throw Natsu back over her shoulder, trying to knock him to the ground. Natsu didn't let go of her arm however, and after he hit the ground Erza found herself being thrown back as well, tumbling back to the ground.

Natsu and Erza both got back to their feet at the same time. Natsu's flames erupted his fists and he dashed forward with speed Erza didn't know he possessed. _**"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"**_ Natsu exclaimed, surprising her as he punched her chin, sending her flying upward. He somehow was above her suddenly, sending his non-metal leg against her head and knocking herback into the ground, leaving a very large crater, surrounded by red flames.

Erza quickly yelled,"Requip!" Her Heaven's Wheel Armor materialized, and she flew out of the crater, kicking Natsu up into the air, having gone extremely fast. Natsu flailed before falling back, landing with his metal arm and using it to spring himself back onto his feet, dodging Erza's sword slash. Erza panted a bit, making Fairy Tail shocked that somehow Natsu was making her break a sweat. Erza brought her hands up and said,"Sword Requip!" One by one, 200 swords appeared in front of her. Natsu smirked, watching for a second.

Jumping into the air, her silver wings going with her, Erza threw her hands down and sent the barrage of swords towards Natsu. Natsu smirked, his eyes lighting up with a slyness she'd never seen before, before he burst into flames, all swords that went at him passed straight through him. Erza frowned, sending the swords that hadn't impaled the Fairy Tail building. (Much to Marakov's horror). Natsu leapt on top of each of those swords, expertly missing being hit by her swords. He jumped on the edge of the last sword, then leapt at Erza, grabbing her forehead, and sending a burst of red and blue magic against her mind.

Erza's limbs suddenly went limp, her eyes wide with shock. Natsu dropped her back on the ground, her armor making a clunking noise, as she crashed to the ground unmoving. Natsu had beaten her, Natsu had _won._ Her armor dissolved, and her swords vanished, leaving her in her normal armor. Silence settled on Fairy Tail watching in shock as Natsu managed to defeat Erza Scarlet. "N-Natsu is the winner!" Marakov declared, still surprised himself.

Erza blinked, feeling coming back to her limbs as blue and red butterflies flew up above her and back to Natsu, who had walked over to her, a soft smile and a look of compassion on his face. He wasn't gloating over his victory, instead he was making sure that his Nakama was okay. In spite of the cheers around her, Erza couldn't help but be reminded another person who had that same soft smile, that same kind nature, and caring look as he stared at her.

_"Such beautiful scarlet hair...Why don't we call you 'Erza Scarlet'? It's the color of your hair, that way, I won't forget it!"_

Taking Natsu's offered hand, she let the Dragon Slayer help her to her feet, before pulling him into a hug. Surprised at first, Natsu slowly hugged her back, Erza able to feel his metal and it made her heart squeeze painfully. She couldn't help but feel slight guilt for what happened to Natsu, since he had been protecting them when he had lost his limbs. But, somehow he was still happy. Sure, he had changed exponentially since they had last met, but he still had his cheerful smile, his same love for all of them.

She finally let him go, and Fairy Tail began partying almost immediately, making Natsu's heart soar with happiness. This was one thing he had missed more than almost anything, just the overall mood of Fairy Tail. The smiles and laughter, abrupt fighting, loud chatter, and closeness of everyone, was what made Fairy Tail.. Fairy Tail.. And he wouldn't trade it for anything.

He turned to follow them in, when his sensitive ears caught some noise. Quickly, he turned around and saw himself staring at an empty forest. A frown graced the features of the young Dragon Slayer, and he turned back to the guild building, opening his senses up more. He was frustrated to realize the wind was flowing the opposite direction of him, so he couldn't pick up on any scents near the forest.

"Natsu~!" Happy's voice suddenly broke through his thoughts, the blue cat floating right in front of his face. "What are you doing out here? Mirajane is making everyone some yummy food! Come on! Come on!" He yelled, grabbing at Natsu's cloak with his tiny paws and pulling Natsu inside.

– – – – –

Ducking behind the tree just in time, one of Zeref's followers ducked behind the tree just before Natsu could see him. Holding his breath, he waited until he was sure that Natsu was inside before giving a sigh of relief. "Damn.. How can Zeref expect us to bring his brother to him when he's so strong, and surrounded by all those stupid Fairies?" 

Another hooded figure, sitting atop the tree, replied,"We wait, he'll be alone eventually, we just have to catch him at the right time, and we must not fail"

"I _understand_ that, but I don't understand how we are supposed to subdue him, even if we took off those metal parts of his I bet he could fight back still.." The first replied irritably.

"That is why we watch, find other weaknesses, and find other things to use to defeat him, we cannot fail, this is the beginning of a new age," The second replied, before they both vanished in a swirl of black magic.

– – – – –

It wasn't until two in the morning that the partying finally stopped, mainly because everyone had passed out from exhaustion, being drunk, fighting, or a combination of all three. Natsu had talked with his Nakama again, and told them more of what had been going on while they were gone.

Lucy had fallen asleep with Happy, both curled up on the other side of the table, Erza was nowhere to be seen, Gray was out cold under the bar, and others were strewn around the place like discarded toys. Azlack and Bisca left with Asuka early, deciding that Asuka wasn't allowed to stay with everyone drunk and fighting, even though Natsu hadn't touch a drink. He hadn't fallen asleep, mainly because he was still wide awake from his fight with Erza.

He stood up, grabbing his bag and walking towards the entrance of the guild. _Where am I gonna stay?_ He thought, looking back at his unconscious guildmates. He let out a soft chuckle, and said,"Guess Ayame was right.. One of the first things they did was get drunk.. Wonder how she knew.." The thought of Ayame sent a sad spike of guilt through his chest. Shaking his head to rid himself from his sad thoughts, he walked outside and looked up at the beautiful night sky.

Part of him wanted to leave, he wanted to travel again, he didn't want to stay in the same place for a long amount of time. Another part of him, a slightly bigger part, wanted to never leave his friends again, in fear of losing them once more.

"What are you doing out here?" A voice asked, making Natsu turn around to see a cheerful Levy walking towards him, looking slightly tired. Turning back to the stars, Natsu replied,"Just thinking.."

Levy let out a giggle, and teasingly said,"That's a surprise" Natsu snorted in amusement and rolled his eyes. "Kidding, kidding," Levy said quickly, moving to stand next to him. "Everyone else is as drunk as Cana on a good day, so I decided to come out here," He explained calmly. Levy smiled and nodded, agreeing with his statement.

"Have you got a place to stay?" Natsu asked, wondering if they had found somewhere already, since he was unsure how long it had been since they had returned.

Levy looked at him with sparkling hazel eyes and replied,"No, we haven't. Lucy has been given back her old apartment but it's filled with bugs, rodents, and dust so she doesn't want to step foot in there. One of the guys wants to build some dorm rooms for us girls, but he said it'll take a while, so most of us have nowhere to stay"

"Ah, so we're all homeless wizards," Natsu said with amusement, making the blue haired girl giggle cheerfully.

Levy looked up at him and replied,"That's kind of a blunt way to say it" Natsu chuckled, moving to sit against the wall of the building. Levy joined him, leaning against the wall and staring up at the stars. Natsu smiled over at her, feeling as relaxed as he had in days. "What's your favorite constellation?" He asked her curiously. She lokked at him, surprised, before relaxing and saying,"I like Leo, it's my favorite. What about you?" 

"Aquarius," Natsu replied, smiling at her. Levy could feel excitement growing in her chest, she finally had someone to talk to, who would understand what she was going on about! She always hoped one day she would find someone who could understand her chatter, Lucy was he best friend when it came to books, but Natsu knew about constellations, engineering so many things she loed for years!

_Never thought Natsu would be the one that would understand what I'm saying.. _She thought with amusement, staring at the stargazing dragon slayer for several moments before looking away and going back to stare at the beautiful stars that surrounded them. Starting to feel sleepy, Levy leaned against the wall and closed her eyes, letting the sounds of the night lull her to sleep.

Beside her, Natsu continued staring up at the sky. He had so many thoughts running through his head, so many questions he still needed answered, and he eyed the sky as if it had all the answers he wanted. Looking down at Levy, he saw her sleeping peacefully, and it made him relax even more than before. She hadn't changed a bit, none of them had. It made him feel out of place, older than all of them, completely different than what they remembered. He could tell that the other Fairy Tail members that had been left behind felt the same.

Hopefully, everything would turn out okay in the end, and they'd all get past this awkward time. _Well.. I have a lot to do tomorrow.. I have to find a place to stay.. I also need Levy's help opening the book I found last month... _Feeling drowsy, Natsu's eyes slowly began to close, suddenly feeling exhausted from all the excitement of the day. I'll save that for later.. He slowly leaned more against the wall, leaning slightly against Levy as he found himself falling into a dreamless sleep. Luckily for the Dragon Slayer, Zeref's followers didn't return that night.


	9. Chapter 9

_**Dreams of an Absolution Chapter 9! I am sorry for the slowness of the last chapter, I was struggling with my depression, and I still am but I'm better now, and I have a whole bunch of inspiration for this story! Also, holy crap! Thank you guys SO much for over 100 reviews! I can't thank any of you enough! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, I'm going to try and make it extra long just for you all! Hope you enjoy! Anyways, enough out of me..**_

_**Onto the story~!**_

– – – – –

_Blood, blood everywhere. There were black flames swelling and devouring buildings in single gulps, crumbles and crashes following as what was left fell onto the thousands of terrified people below, who screamed and ran away, some being grabbed by hooded figures, sadistic glee filling their barley visible eyes. The dead bodies of Fairy Tail members surrounded a standing figure, with horns protruding from his head, and wings of a dragon sprouting from his back._

_ Evil laughter escaped the figure, who was also using his foot to hold down a blonde girl, who stared at him with terror. Leaning forward, the onyx eyes and pink hair on the figure was visible, his lips turned up in a fang filled smile. "Natsu! Please Natsu! Don't do this!" The blonde yelled in terror, holding the remains of what looked like a burnt scarf._

_ Another figure appeared behind Natsu, Zeref, his eyes filled with sadistic pleasure. "This is pitiful, end this," He sneered. Natsu's clawed hand covered with black flames as he reared his hand back. "**NATSU!**" Lucy yelled in terror, as Natsu's hand shot forward faster than the speed of life and then-_

"_**NO!"**_

Jerking up, Natsu's panicked eyes quickly tried to regain their location, while his mind tried to understand what had happened. The Dragon Slayer's hands flew up to his head, sliding through his long hair with ease, searching for what he remembered from the horribly realistic nightmare. Nothing was there, he slumped against the wall, a sense of reality returning to him.

Taking a deep breath, Natsu quenched his last bits of panic and whispered,"It was just a dream.." His onyx eyes examined the area around him, remembering after a few seconds the events of the last day, and relaxed his tense muscles.

Turning his head, he found Levy asleep, leaning back against the wall. Probably having moved in her sleep, or he might have pushed her away by accident during his hysteria. The peaceful moonlight shining across her face made it impossible to turn his gaze away, her whole face was relaxed, peaceful, and it helped the Dragon Slayer relax after that corrupt dream. If only they could all relax like this forever, but life wasn't that kind.

A blush started to cover his cheeks, and he shook his head in amusement. He pushed those thoughts away quickly and sighed, he shouldn't think like that.. Levy was obviously attracted to Gajeel anyways.. As much as Natsu wanted to rejoin her in resting, he didn't want to have another nightmare, the sight of his dead nakama still fresh in his mind, and he feared for quite a while. The whole dream was confusing the Dragon Slayer, because it felt nostalgic, and he didn't understand why it did..

It didn't seem like a dream at all.. Natsu thought It felt like.. Like a memory.. Frowning, Natsu confusedly rubbed his head, trying to wrap his head around the strange dream. He remembered, several years into his training with Ayame, he had asked her about her views on visions and theories..

– – – – –

_Natsu turned the page of his book, it had been a pretty much lazy day for them. Natsu had been studying more often lately, and also starting to invent more things. The only excitement had been an old man who came yelling his head off about some vision he had, and ended up having to be dragged away by the city guards._

_ It irked Natsu slightly, mainly because of two things. Firstly, Ayame hadn't stopped and corrected him, a habit he learned the old woman had, and so far every time she had corrected someone, she turned out to be right in the end. Secondly, he didn't understand how the man had the audacity to predict something like the town being destroyed._

_ "You know, your food is getting cold," The old voice of Ayame teased, who was sitting across from him eating some food Natsu had made. The mage in question rolled his eyes, placing the book down with his bookmark in it. He found it amusing that a few years ago he barley touched books, and now people were having to force him to stop reading._

_ Natsu had a smaller portion than Ayame, he didn't eat as much any more, as his body couldn't handle it, and his stomach and lungs had been ruptured because of the explosion. He remembered when he started training his body to get it back up to speed, he was confused at why he tired so easily. Ayame had told him he was lucky to have two lungs, just like he was lucky to be alive._

"_Hey.. Ayame?"_

"_Hm?"_

_ "Do you.. Believe in what that guy said.. In town square earlier..?" He hesitantly asked, gaining a look of confusion from the old woman. "What makes you think I did?" She asked, her dark eyes filled with a calculating look._

_ Natsu shrugged, looking down and away. "It's just.. You usually prove someone wrong.. When it comes to logic and stuff like that..," He answered slowly._

_ Ayame sighed, taking a drink of her warm tea before she replied,"Not everything can be explained with logic, Natsu, you must understand that. There are some things we can't explain, and we just have to accept"_

_ She held her hand towards him in an explanatory manner. "Like, have you ever tried to use science to explain your magic?" She asked. Natsu shook his head. "Why not?" She questioned._

_ "But magic isn't related to science, it's part of us, not something that can be explained!" He exclaimed quickly, giving a slight frown as he realized he had just proved her point._

_ Ayame snapped her fingers, and pointed at him. "Exactly. All the visions we've heard of have had magic involved in some way, there's no way to say it's illogical when magic is involved, plus he had some good points..."_

_ "Okay.. I understand.. So Omens or Visions.. Could be real.. But you honestly think he might be right about our town getting attacked?! You want that to happen?!" He asked, his heart beating in fear._

_ Ayame let out a soft sigh, before saying,"Even Visions have their logic Natsu, and sometimes it's logic you can't ignore.." She stood up from the table, walking away without another word. She left a thoughtful Natsu behind her, who wouldn't move for a few more minutes, just processing what his teacher had said._

– – – – –

Looking back on her words now, it made Natsu wonder if she had known all along, that she would die in the way she did. He wondered if that was her trying to warn him for the inevitable.. _Ayame.. She always __knew more than she let on__.. _He thought with sad amusement, before shaking his head, trying to dislodge the depressing thoughts. Such fond memories, but with such a bitter ending.

Natsu looked back at Levy, noticing her shivering. _I guess it was kind of a bad idea to sleep outside.._ He thought, pulling off his cloak. He put it around Levy, keeping her warm as he picked her up bridal style. Natsu heard a relaxed hum come from Levy, as her eyelids fluttered a bit, but otherwise she remained asleep. He smiled at her a bit, before pushing the Guild door open and looking around.

Everyone was all on the floor, still asleep and relaxed. All the chairs and tables had been sold by Marakov so they could buy more with the money they saved thanks to Natsu rebuilding it. Of course, Natsu wasn't going to start until he got a real vision of what he wanted to do. Most of the members were planning on helping Natsu to build it, and he also got lots of requests from them as well. Asuka had asked him to make a crows nest with the Fairy Tail flag, and Natsu had agreed, just because the kid had grown on him. She even started calling him Uncle Natsu.

Natsu lied Levy down next to her nakama, then walked back outside and looked at the slowly sinking moon. There was a bit of color painting the sky, and to Natsu it looked very beautiful. Sighing for what felt like the umpteenth time just that morning, then decided to go on a walk, to clear his head, and to see if Mongolia had changed any, he didn't get a good glimpse while searching for Fairy Tail.

"Natsu?" A voice asked, making Natsu turn to see Happy walking towards him, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Where are you going?" He asked innocently.

Natsu smiled, turning around to look at his close friend. "I'm just gonna go on a walk to clear my head," He told him softly. Happy looked down at his feet, rubbing his paws down together sheepishly, then asking,"Is it okay if I come with you?"

Giving a confused look, Natsu knelt down, picking up Happy. "Of course it is, why wouldn't it be?" He asked, then realized it all of a sudden. "You feel replaced, don't you?" He asked sadly, feeling extremely guilty when the blue exceed nodded with hesitation.

"You just.. You just sounded like you had a lot of fun with Pantherlily in y-your stories.. I thought you didn't need me anymore.." Happy said sadly, wiping his eyes from tears that threatened to shed. Natsu felt more guilt stab at his heart, and hugged Happy against his chest.

Guiltily, Natsu replied,"I'm sorry, buddy.. I didn't realize you felt that way.. Just know, nobody could ever replace you, you're my best friend, Happy"

"Y-you mean it..?" Happy asked, his voice filled with hope. Natsu gave a cheerful smile, ruffling the cat's fur. "Of course you little knucklehead!" He teased.

Happy giggled with excitement, climbing on top of Natsu's head and replying,"Let's go buy some fish Natsu!" Natsu rolled his eyes as the cat tugged at his hair, trying to get him to say yes.

"Okay, okay! Jeez, first thing you do when I get back is ask me to buy you something," He teased in a fatherly tone. Happy looked at him with innocent eyes and asked,"What are you talking about?" His voice was filled with mock innocence, giving himself away. Natsu could help but burst out laughing.

"Oh man, I missed this.." He said nostalgically, rubbing Happy between his ears happily. Happy giggled and nestled himself in the salmon hair, tail swishing in relaxation. "Let's go get some fish!" He said again, eagerness in his voice.

"Alright! Alright!" Natsu told him before he could preach again, and then started walking down the path. Until..

"_**Natsu Dragneel! **_Where do you think you're going?!" A familiar voice bellowed.

Turning once more, he found Lucy standing with her arms crossed, eyes glaring at him as if he had just killed a kitten. Erza had a stern look on he face, towering over to blonde but glaring at the poor Dragon Slayer as well. Gray stood next to them as well (His shirt was gone), giving him a horribly concealed friendly grin.

"I was gonna buy Happy some fish?" He asked, wondering why he wasn't allowed to do so. Lucy growled and stomped towards him. "I told you you weren't ever allowed out of my sight!" She yelled at him. Natsu felt his cheeks flush a bit, she was serious when she said that?!

Natsu smirked, and asked,"What about when it's night time, are you honestly planning to stay up and watch me sleep? That's a little creepy, isn't it Luce?"

Lucy's face turned red, and she angrily yelled,"Natsu stop being such a _**smartass!**_" She pushed at his chest, flinching a bit when she hit against the metal side of his body, probably having forgotten it was there. "W-well we're c-coming with you!" She yelled, regaining her composure quickly, as always.

Natsu let a happy smile grace his mature face, as he said,"I wouldn't expect anything less" Happy groaned and started yelling,"_Fish!Fish!Fish!Fish!Fish!_"

Once again, Natsu rolled his eyes before saying,"Let's go get his damn fish, I have to buy some stuff in town anyways" His Nakama nodded, and Natsu smiled before slinging his bag over his back and then heading down the hill calmly. Lucy was right at his side, obviously keeping her promise. Natsu had his journal in his hand, reading through the stuff he needed to buy while they were down here. He needed to get all the stuff for rebuilding Fairy Tail, and he was planning on fixing up his own house as well.

Happy was somehow asleep again, nestled among the salmon hair with a content face, making Natsu feel extremely relaxed and happy the Exceed was feeling okay once more. He went into his bag and grabbed his book, walking along with his friends and managing to read at the same time. Erza and Lucy were on either side of him, while Gray walked behind them trying to look as if he wasn't having a good time.

Smelling the fish, Natsu walked to the stand, Happy instantly waking up as well and letting out a happy squeal. "Natsu! Can I have the salmon please?" He asked as Natsu was about to speak, the kind old salesman smiled softly at him.

Shrugging with a sheepish smile, Natsu replied,"I guess that's what he wants, how much will that be?" The salesman began wrapping the fish, his kind eyes looking at Natsu with respect. "It's no charge for you, Natsu Dragneel," He said in a friendly tone.

Natsu shook his head and said,"No, sir I insist, it's only fair" The man shook his head again, pushing Natsu's money filled hand back against his chest carefully.

"You forget how much your deeds impacted the people in Fiore," He began,"My daughter and grandaughter had been kidnapped by those slave traders in Haregon, and you saved them and all those other people, this is the least I can do for you"

Natsu felt a blush go up his neck and cheeks, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. He wasn't used to being complimented, and he honestly forgot how much that had impacted people, at the time of that battle he'd been more focused on stopping the enemy than anything else. "Sir, it wasn't just me, I can't take full responsibility," He replied,"Sabertooth was a big help as well, I don't know how the battle would have gone without them" 

"Natsu, you're too modest!" The old man said, smiling as the blush reddened even more on the Dragon Slayer's face. "Please accept at least this one for free, you deserve it," He said, placing it in Natsu's hands before he could protest again. Deciding to respect the older man's decision, Natsu gave a polite incline of his head, and replied,"Thank you sir" The man cheerfully nodded and Natsu handed Happy his salmon, before turning back to his team mates.

Erza smiled and asked,"You're not used to that are you?" Natsu shook his head, smiling in amusement as his blush slowly started to slip away. "No, never been recognized outside of Haregon for that," He admitted.

Lucy giggled and said,"I wish I could get free stuff like that, maybe I should do heroic deeds like that!" Natsu frowned, and rolled his eyes at Lucy's annoyingly childish behavior. It made him slightly frusterated, even though he knew he used to act like that as well. Unknown to him, Erza had noticed and felt the exact same way he did. Noticing the tension starting to grow, Erza quickly spoke up. "How about we go to the bakery to grab breakfast and a coffee?" She suggested.

Natsu's intelligent brain caught on instantly to what she was trying to do, and quickly said,"Yes, that sounds like a good idea! I'm feeling a little famished"

"Maybe they'll give it to us free, I wanna see Natsu blush like that again," Gray teased, making Natsu's cheeks fill with a pink hue as he muttered several obscenities under his breath at the Ice Mage as they chuckled at Natsu.

About ten minutes later, they all sat outside the Cafe waiting for their order to be delivered. Erza sat next to Natsu calmly, while Lucy and Gray were arguing over God knows what. Natsu was calmly sketching out a design for the Fairy Tail guild, his pencil marks were swift but precise, with several estimated and calculated measurements for the building. Erza couldn't help but smile as she watched, seeing the excited look dance through his eyes with every pencil stroke. She had to admit, seeing him sketch was amazing, the building he was drawing looked so much better than what the Guild was now. If it wasn't for Natsu's changed personality and suddenly intellectual mind, she wouldn't believe that old run-down building could be changed into what Natsu was designing.

Lucy had gone to order for everyone, and Gray had to go find some clothes again, so it was just the two of them. Erza stared at him curiously, her elbow resting on the table and holding her head. Somehow she still couldn't believe that Natsu was alive, and that seven years had passed. The whole thing was just.. So surreal.. So much time had passed for all of them, yet everyone on Tenrou was the same as they were seven years ago. It stabbed her in a strange way how different Natsu and everyone else was after all this time, and how much they had missed in what was so little time, for the Tenrou Group at least..

"So, how long do you think it'll take to build that?" She asked, trying to start conversation with the salmon haired mage. He looked up from what he was doing, strands of hair in his face. Erza had to admit, she liked his hair long. It went down to his shoulders, spiking on top and in the back, while the strands over his face giving him a roguish, handsome look. Any lesser girl would have blushed at the sight, but Erza was definitely not one of those. She realized Natsu was looking at her expectantly, leaning back against his chair.

"What?" Erza asked, surprised she had gotten lost in thought so easily.

Natsu gave her a soft smile, and replied,"I said it'll probably take a week at minimum, a few weeks at maximum, but with everybody helping it'll probably take only two or three days" He smiled even more, obviously happy by his estimate. Erza couldn't help but let a smile grace her face as well, feeling happy to see his smile once more.

"I'm sure everyone will be more than happy to help, we all want that old building fixed up. Believe it or not, before you returned Marakov was prepared to spend as much money as he had to in order to fix it, the only reason we didn't was because you offered to fix it," She told him truthfully, and his eyes widened in surprise.

"You're kidding"

Erza smiled and said,"I wish I was, it was kind of painful to hear him even say the word 'Spend'" Natsu winced at that word, before nodding in agreement. They shared a soft chuckle, before Gray finally returned with clothes, which would most likely vanish within the next twenty minutes anyway. (Luckily Gray had brought another pair just in case).

Lucy returned with their food at almost the same time, cheerfully saying,"Cupcakes~!" She then placed down the coffees and sweets. Erza cheerfully dug into her cake, Gray drank his iced coffee, Lucy blew on her hot coffee to cool it, while Natsu placed his cupcake next to him. Happy was curled on Natsu's lap, hugging what was left of his fish and sleeping.. Again. Happy never usually slept this much.. It was starting to make him suspicious.. Slowly, Natsu placed a hand on Happy's head, between his ears, and sent a small amount of Kessho into the small body, searching through the cat's bloodstream and body for whatever might be causing his strange behavior.

Then, he felt it. It was some type of sleeping drug, most likely in the fish. He was suddenly very thankful he didn't take a bite of the cupcake yet. But.. If they drugged Happy..

"Don't eat anything!" He snapped at his friends, who all froze where they stand. Erza gave him a skeptical look, while Lucy's eyes filled with worry. Natsu slammed his palms on the table and stood up, his onyx eyes scanning the area.

"Come out," He said in a loud tone. "I know you're here" The people around them sent him confused looks, and Erza, Gray, and Lucy had confused looks for a moment before they regained sense and started looking around for whoever was endangering their Nakama's saftey.

Soft chuckles came from nearby him, and he turned to see two hooded figures, Zeref's men, walking towards them. The crowd parted like the Red Sea for them, watching in confusion and fear. "You are as observant as ever, Natsu Dragneel," The first one replied.

Instantly, Natsu narrowed his eyes, clenching his fists and feeling his anger spark. "_You_," He hissed with the venom of a Cobra. He would never forget Ayame's murderers, and this was one of them.. The man chuckled, placing his hands into his sleeves as he replied,"We really must stop meeting like this, Natsu. It is very troublesome.. Make this easy for yourself and come with us quietly"

Natsu growled, preparing himself for battle. "Over my dead body," He hissed, his sword materializing in his hands. He felt his Nakama behind him doing the same, preparing themselves for the inevitable battle. Chuckles came from the two men, and the second one stepped forward.

"You really think we are as unprepared as we once were? We watched your fight against Titania Scarlet, we are prepared now!" As he spoke, several more figures appeared behind him, Natsu could sense immense power coming from each of them, but he wasn't phased.

Raising his sword, Natsu declared,"You still haven't seen all I'm capable of, and you will not win this battle" 

The men chuckled again, before the first man replied,"If it's a fight you want.. It's a fight you'll get!" 

– – – – – –

Through a crystal ball, Zeref Dragneel watched the events with nostalgia and sadness in his eyes. "Oh Natsu.. I know all that you are capable of.. Even you don't truly know.." He whispered, looking at the determined face of his brother through the glass.

A small smile appeared on his face. "I know you, Natsu.. You won't give in.. But you must know the truth.. If things don't work out, I'll just have to go retrieve you myself"

With those words, and a soft sigh, Zeref returned to his sitting position, eyes not moving from the crystal ball, as he prepared for the outcome of the impending battle, for whichever side would win.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Dreams of an Absolution Chapter 10~! I'm so excited! I hope this comes out as soon as I think it will, which is by Labor Day. I have been trying to release more chapters sooner, but I am on the School Volleyball team and keeping my grades up. I injured my knee pretty badly, probably will have to stay off my leg for a while, unfortunetly. So far so good, though, I'll try to do more chapters, but I'm busy. Thanks for your understanding :)**_

_**Onto the story!**_

– – – – –

The rest of the guild woke up a little after Natsu and his team had wandered to town. Levy had awoken first, after the sun had climbed up into view from its hiding spot. She had rubbed her eyes and stretched out, before blinking in surprise at the cloak over her body. _This is Natsu's.. _She realized, a faint blush covering her cheeks. _He must have brought me inside last night.. _She pressed the fabric against her cheeks, liking the feeling of it. It surrounded her like a fuzzy blanket, warming her up all the way to her core. It smelt slightly of charred wood and oil, just like Natsu. The blue haired girl let herself bury in the warmth of the clothing for a second before standing up and looking around.

Mirajane was awake, she was cleaning out a cup calmly. Levy noticed instantly with her sharp eyes that the cup she was cleaning was already spotless, to the point she could see her reflection in it. Mirajane's eyes were unseeing, she probably was thinking about anything other than the cup. "You okay?" She asked worriedly, making the mage jump, sending the cup into the air. Levy pulled her hands out of the cloak and grabbed the glass before it could shatter and awaken everyone.

"Sorry," She whispered quickly,"I didn't think you'd jump like that" Mirajane gave her a forgiving look, before she replied,"It's alright, I've just had a lot on my mind lately" She started messing with the rag in her hands, avoiding Levy's eyes.

Levy moved forward, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder and softly asking,"Wanna talk about it?" Mirajane let out another sigh, twisting the rag in her hands and looking down at it, as if it had all the answers to her problems.

"It's just.." She began,"I still am having trouble wrapping my head around everything.. So much has changed.. It's been seven years for all of them... and only a few days for us.. It doesn't seem fair.. And Natsu.. He is missing limbs.. I can't even imagine how that must be like to live with.. And he's changed so much.." Levy had to agree with Mirajane on that point. Natsu was completely different, he was extremely smart and serious, contrasting with the brash and abrasive teen he used to be.

Levy placed her hands back in the cloak as she said,"I don't think it's that they all changed, I think it's just that they.. Grew up" Mirajane sighed sadly and nodded in agreement. "You're right.. They all have in some ways," She said, leaning under the bar to grab another dish to clean, but then she stopped and looked at Levy curiously.

"Where'd you get that cloak?" She asked. Levy blushed as she said,"Oh, Natsu gave it to me.." Mirajane blinked curiously, then a mischievous smile began to crawl up on her face. Blinking in confusion, Levy cocked her head to the side and asked,"What's that look for?"

Mirajane just kept smiling. It took Levy a moment to realize what her friend was thinking, and when she did her eyes widened in shock. "No! No! I know what you're thinking, and stop thinking it!" She exclaimed, pointing at her.

If it was possible, the Take-over mage's smirk grew even wider, as she said,"You _Liiike_ Natsu~!" Levy's eyes widened even more, a blush covering her face at a rapid pace. "No! No I don't!" She exclaimed in denial, pushing her hands against her cheeks to try and hide the red blush on her face. Mirajane started to laugh at the sight of her friend's apparent denial for her obvious feelings towards a certain pink haired mage.

"You. Know. You. Do~!" Mirajane sang, waving her plate back and forth to emphasize her point. Levy tried to glare at the older girl, but it was hard to look intimidating with flushed cheeks and a stuttering voice.

Before either could begin to argue again, a sudden burst of dark and dangerous energy sliced through the air like a dangerously sharpened katana, jerking awake all of the sleeping Fairy Tail members from their slumbers.

"What the hell was that?!"

– – – – –

Natsu barley had a chance to react, as the hooded man vanished with a flash, before reappearing in front of the Dragon Slayer and slashing at him with magic seeping with evil intentions. Natsu quickly ducked down, before grabbing his shirt and throwing him to the side. The civilians parted and let him crash into the wall painfully. The man hit the ground, but got up a few seconds later just fine. Natsu bit the inside of his cheek hard, this was going to be a long and dangerous fight. He stood up straight, pushing his glasses up and letting the glare of the sun make then shine, before he said,"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you'll get"

The hooded figure laughed, an eerie and haunting sound that caused all the civilians to shudder and take several steps backwards in fear. "Oh, Natsu-san, I wish we didn't have to do this the hard way, it would be so much easier if you just came with us.." He said in a soft, chilling tone. This seemed to irritate his friends, as Erza had pulled her sword out, pointing it at the man with malice seeping from her. "He's not going anywhere with you," She said firmly. Natsu felt his heart swell with happiness, even with how much he had changed, their friendship was still strong, maybe even stronger, than before.

The man just started laughing again, making all the civilians jump back many feet in terror. "Oh, if only you knew, there is so much you are clueless about Natsu-san, and I wish I could tell you, but I'm not permitted to, my job is just to bring you back alive," He said, placing one hand on his chest, the other stretching out. Natsu saw something reflect the sunlight for only a mere moment, but it was enough to catch the mage's attention.

Erza seemed to decide that there had been enough talk, and she charged forward, slashing her sword forward and hitting the man square in the chest. He stumbled back several steps, and that is when all hell broke loose. Natsu clenched his fists, jumping towards the closest guy, and moved to punch him in the face. The man chuckled at the easily blockable attack, and lifted his hand to catch it when Natsu suddenly ducked down, swinging his metal leg and hitting the man in the side, sending him flying.

"Happy!" Lucy yelled, and the panicking blue cat looked over at her, tears in his eyes. "Go to the Guild! Warn the others!" Happy nodded and took off flying, then Lucy grabbed one of her keys. "Open the Gate of the Water Bearer! Aquarius!" She lifted the key up, opening the spiritual world, and letting out her Celestial Spirit.

"Do you know what I was doing right now?" She sneered, and Lucy rolled her eyes. "Yes, I know you were probably on a date right now.. But we need help! Zeref's men are attacking! Use your water!" Aquarius scoffed and rolled her eyes before pulling up her water, and giving a mighty yell as she sent a wave at the hooded figures, knocking several down like a bunch of bowling pins, and she looked smugly at Lucy. "Satisfied?" She asked hauntingly.

"Yeah, whatever," Lucy muttered,"Just keep doing that for a while" She pulled out her whip and decided to get herself into the fighting as well. _No one hurts my nakama and gets away with it! _With that final thought in mind, Lucy gave a happy battle cry and ran into the flames of battle.

Gray dodged and ducked the men around him, as they threw dark slices of magic towards him. Quickly, Gray sent spikes of ice towards the enemies, pinning them to walls, only for them to use some sort of power to teleport away, and appear in front of him. Damn! I need some way to knock them out, they keep coming! He thought, just as he was punched and sent flying back, the magic he was about to use sent chunks of ice towards the retreating civilians. However, the ice bounced right off them.

If he squinted, he could see a slight red and blue shield surrounding the people. _Natsu! _He realized in relief. _Smart move flame brain!_ He guessed he couldn't call him a flame brain anymore, he obviously was much smarted than before. Guess four-eyes would be good enough for now. Gray suddenly got an idea, and pulled off his coat, slamming it onto one of Zeref's men before punching him in the face, then kicking him to the ground. These guys were fast and powerful, so he would need to outsmart them.

Erza and Natsu stood back to back, swords drawn and fighting the best she could. They were smarter than the others Natsu had told them about, but Natsu was even smarter. He grabbed Erza's arm and suddenly swung her around, Erza realized quickly what the mage was doing and held out her sword, slamming into some of them while others were smart enough to dodge.

Natsu then threw her into the air, and Erza quickly flipped and slammed her sword across the chest of the closest follower. Natsu turned and his arms grew in flames, licking with white, hot fire, and he punched one of the followers square in his cheek, hearing the satisfying shatter of the man's cheek before he went flying into the wall of a shop. He didn't get up after he slid down to the ground below him with a groan.

Turning to the next man, he slammed his normal hand on one follower's neck, sending a burst of magic through the other man's nerves, and he suddenly slumped down onto the ground, completely immobile. _Natsu! Look out!_ Kessho suddenly yelled in Natsu's mind. He felt something speeding towards him fast, and raised his metal hand, surrounding himself with a shield just as a purple slice of magic collided with it, sending a large explosion around him, smoke billowing everywhere like a broken dam.

Natsu stood up, moving into a fighting position as he tried to see through the smoke. "Such strength, Natsu Dragneel, imagine how much more strength that Zeref could give you if you come with us.." The first man said, and Natsu quickly turned, his sword materializing in his hand as he slashed at the sound. The man dodged quickly, and was suddenly in front of the dragon slayer. "Don't you understand what no means?! I'd never side with Zeref!" He sneered, taking steps backwards, before sending a burst of magic towards him. This surprised the man, making him stumble back, but he laughed as he did.

"You wouldn't side with family? Doesn't blood mean anything to you, Dragneel?" The man said, standing straight again. Natsu froze, stopping himself from creating another spell as he froze in confusion. "What- What are you talking about?" He sneered. The man just grinned evilly, before there was suddenly hands on either side of his head, fisting his pink hair and planted firmly on his head. The man in front of him had vanished in a blink of an eye.

The battle around him was gone, something in his brain had opened up, and memories were flashing in front of him, to the point he could barley register them. He saw him as a newborn, a much younger Zeref next to him, he saw Zeref walking with a tiny Natsu, trying to toddle and nearly falling into his brother's safe arms. He witnessed the Black Mage sitting at his bedside, little Natsu was breathing weakly, and Zeref was sobbing gently as he did, and his ears rung.

The world was swirling, Natsu didn't even realize he had screamed, the world was swirling around him like a whirlpool, the young man stumbled back as Zeref's follower vanished again, and he tripped over something, crashing onto the tiled ground, shuddering with wide eyes. Zeref's follower laughed and said,"Do you believe me now? It was hard to find those memories with all the locks Igneel put on them, but now that you know, and you're in such a weak state, I'll have to take you to your brother now"

Before he could do as he said, he was slammed to the ground by an angry Gildarts, whom to Natsu appeared out of nowhere, slammed down on top of the man, pinning him to the ground and punching the man over and over. "Don't. Mess. With. Fairy Tail!" He yelled, looking even more angry and dangerous than the young man had ever seen him. A blur blur suddenly galloped toward Natsu, crying out his name.

Natsu groaned, and felt something in his hand, he realized it was his glasses, and he quickly put them on to see a tearful Happy in front of him. "Happy?" He asked,"What are you doing here?" Happy grinned in relief to see his foster father wasn't hurt too badly. "I brought help!" He said proudly, helping the Fire Mage up. Natsu could see several Fairy Tail members around him, and through his confusion, he realized they were all fighting against Zeref's men.

Gildart's hadn't been able to see anything but red, when the first thing he saw running into the battle was Natsu on the ground. Gildarts could see he used some sort of mind ability to make Natsu's senses muddled, and he couldn't stop himself from attacking. It seemed, after several punches, the man under him got irritated. He grabbed Gildart's metal arm in mid-punch, and suddenly Gildarts found himself against a wall. "You will_** not **_stop us!" He yelled,"Zeref will rule over you all, or you will die at _**his feet!**_"

A sudden surge of magic slammed through Gildart's metal arm, before it exploded into tiny pieces, as well as tearing at the flesh part of his arm terribly, he screamed loudly before the man slammed him to the ground. The overall shock and trauma of being jammed with dark magic paid the toll on the mage. Then, the hooded man turned and said,"Retreat!" He vanished in a swirl of black magic, as well as everyone else in his group, even the unconscious ones.

"Gildarts!" Natsu exclaimed, running over and sliding to his knees next to the man, who was shaking and panting. "Shock, possible concussion, major bleeding from arm, lightheaded from blood loss," He muttered to himself, before placing his hand on Gidlart's stump, making him cry in pain and try to close his eyes. "Shit, Gildarts wake up!" He yelled, making the guy snap his eyes open. There was tissue missing as well as skin, it would take several minutes to heal.

Fairy Tail had quickly run over, and gasped at the sight of one of their strongest mages. "Cana!" Natsi ordered,"He has a concussion, shock as well, I need you to keep him talking until I can finish healing his arm, if he goes to sleep it'll be fatal!" Cana nodded fearfully before kneeling down by her father and forcing him to talk to her.

"What happened?" Marakov asked the pink haired mage. Natsu looked up at him. "Zeref's follower broke his arm, tore up the skin and muscle, he has a concussion and shock, he caught us off guard," He explained. "Well can't you fix his arm?!" Azlack asked in fear. Natsu, having witnessed the strong mage be reduced to this knew the answer. "No, not that one, I will have to build a new one," He answered.

It took ten minutes to heal and close the stump, before he moved on to the man's brain, healing the swelling the best he could before letting him go to sleep. Marakov looked at his two boys in fear. Gildarts obviously had been taken off guard, and there was something haunting in Natsu's eyes, he had seen something he hadn't been expecting. "Come on, they're gone now, let's take Gildarts to the infirmary and we can get started there," He said, before letting Gray and Natsu carry the poor man there, Fairy Tail was closer than ever in those few moments.

– – – – –

They knelt in front of their master in shame. "We are sorry, Master Zeref, the mission was a failure, we failed," They whispered shamefully.

Zeref waved his hand at them and said,"Do not be afraid, it was not a complete failure, you told him part of the truth, that's all I was really worried about.

The Black Mage walked towards his crystal ball, sitting down and relaxing, his gentle eyes closed. "Should I.. Should I call for another capture mission?" He asked worriedly, but Zeref shook his head and replied,"No, give him some time to think, he must understand that what you showed him as true, I will tell you when we will go for him again"

An image of his brother appeared on his crystal ball, with his long and untamed salmon hair, black rimmed glasses and metal limbs, staring at something beyond Zeref's vision. The black mage smiled and placed two fingers on Natsu's face, and whispered,"Don't worry little brother, I understand you need time to think, I will wait as long as you need to understand the truth.

With that, the mage leaned back again and closed his eyes, relaxing into a meditative state.

– – – – –

Natsu had gotten the measurements he had needed, and the supplies he had needed as well. Gildarts was still sleeping, he had used Kessho to lure the man to sleep so he wouldn't be in pain. He could see the little butterfly out of the corner of his eye, resting on the man's chest gently. Natsu wanted nothing more than to run away and contenplate what had happened, what Zeref's follower had shown him, and figure out what it meant and if it was true, but he owed Gildarts his life, so he would build the man's arm again, a better one than before.

The door opened behind him and he saw Levy walk inside, looking at him worriedly. "Hey Natsu.. Can I help you?" She asked gently. Natsu gave the hesitant girl a smile and nodded, moving over so that Levy could see all the parts. She blinked at the sight of all the wires and metal, and said,"Whoa, you're making it from scratch?"

"Yeah," Natsu said, unrolling a magic scroll to show her the body's nerves. "We have to match the wires to act like nerves, and attach them to his own nerves, it will make it move and react like a real arm, he's lucky he didn't lose any of his chest like I did, that's more deadly and it'd take weeks to build. Luckily I was unconscious for that.." Levy winced a bit at the hidden implications, but moved next to Natsu and listened to his instructions, helping him put it together.

The wires were hard to figure out, but Natsu seemed to know exactly what he was doing, it made Levy want to know what else he had learned. They finished with a bundle of wires, and Natsu began putting on the metal covering. "How many times have you.. Replaced your arm?" She asked gently. Natsu smiled at her, showing her that her question was not hurting his feelings. "I've actually built several extra arms, and I've only had to replace them about five times, because as I recovered I regrew more muscle and had to build a different arm to fit my body, and my leg as well," He explained.

Levy nodded and asked,"Do you.. Remember what happened?" Natsu's eyes grew haunted a little bit, and he whispered,"I can't remember much of what happened, but I remember hearing Lucy scream and.. The pain of losing.. Part of me.." Levy felt her heart clench and she reached out to take Natsu's shoulder, but he quickly turned and moved away with the metal arm. The butterfly on Gildarts fluttered and moved to Natsu's shoulder.

Placing the metal arm against Gildart's stump, and the butterfly flew over, landing against the arm, Natsu could feel Kessho gently reopening the would to make the nerves and wires connect, and then heal it back together. It took several hours, but they had finished. "He'll wake up in a little while," He told Levy,"I'm gonna go.. I have to think" Levy frowned, and pulled him back towards her, surprised at her own strength.

"Natsu Dragneel! Don't you dare shut me out! I didn't know that asking that question would hurt your feelings! I.. I didn't mean to.." She whispered, her thoughts drifting to what Natsu had told her, when she was suddenly pulled into his arms. "I'm sorry Levy, I didn't mean to push you away, it's just been a very stressful day.." He whispered.

Levy felt tears fill her eyes, and she clutched to the fabric of his chest, feeling the metal and flesh of his body. She let out a choked sob and whispered,"We thought you were dead.. We thought you were dead.. You damn idiot, please don't ever do something like this again.. I.. I don't want to lose you again" There was a hand on her chin, and it lifted her up to find herself staring into Natsu's caring and sad eyes.

Making a bold leap, Levy pulled Natsu closer, connecting their lips into a loving kiss. Natsu froze for a moment before kissing her back, wrapping his arms around her waist and leaning in a little more. Levy's heart burst in happiness, the world vanished around them and it was just her and Natsu.

"Well, what's going on here?" A voice said, making both of them jump and see Gildarts grinning at them. "Nice choice there Natsu, quite a looker you got there huh?" He teased, making the salmon haired mage go as red as a tomato. Levy growled and said,"S-shut up before I knock you out again!" Gildarts merely grinned again and lifted up his hand. Looking at the craftmanship of the metal arm, it worked even better than his old one.

"Thanks, Natsu," He said honestly, the young man blinked in surprise before smiling and nodding. "Yeah, you're welcome Gildarts.." He muttered,"Rest for a while, okay? Don't stress yourself, you fought hard yesterday," Gildarts advised, standing up and followed the two mages outside. "Oi, Levy, let's go grab something to eat, I'm starving!" Natsu told the blue haired girl, and they dashed down the old rickety stairs, Levy absently thought that she can't wait for Natsu to fix the Guild Hall.

The second they got downstairs, Mirajane pointed at their held hands. "Ha! I knew it! I called it!" She yelled,"I knew you liked Natsu!" She called loudly, making all the member of Fairy Tail turn with wide eyes towards them. Uncharacteristicly, Levy yelled,"Mirajane shut up!" And tackled the girl down. Gajeel grinned and suddenly came up behind Natsu, socking him in the back of the head. Cana laughed and watched, until someone knocked over her barrel of beer and she joined in the fighting. Even Erza was messing around, it was a happy and carefree moment for the guild. Marakov didn't even try to stop them, just listening to the fighting and happiness around them. Nothing could destroy their family, they knew in those few moments.

– – – – –

Later that night, Natsu was sitting on top of the half-removed roof, they had started rebuilding the Guild already, but had decided to relax for the rest of the night. He stared up at the moon as he thought of what he had viewed that day, Zeref could be tricking him. That was a pure possibility, but the possibility they were related was also a huge possibility.

"What do you think?" He asked the blue and red butterfly next to him. Her wings fluttered and she replied,"_I do not know Natsu, but you were not put under any illusions, I believe __he might have been telling the truth.._"

Natsu sighed and nodded, staring up at the sky. He decided not to worry about that, he'd worry about it in the morning, when he could go to the library or look through his scrolls. "You know, I need to build a new house, since my old one is gone.. Maybe I should build a treehouse.. That sounds like it'd be fun!" He said cheerfully. Kessho chuckled and replied,"_Whatever you say, I suggest you go to sleep now Natsu_"

Natsu chuckled and said,"Yeah.. I guess it is pretty late, but I want to finish to Guild Hall before everyone gets here, can you help me with that?" Kessho giggled again and replied,"_Of course! We can finish it in no time!_"

The salmon haired mage smiled and nodded, before jumping off the roof and looking at the old guild building. Proudly, he exclaimed,"Alright, we're going to finish this tonight, I can't wait to see their faces in the morning!" The little butterfly giggled again before flapping her wings and following Natsu back inside, she couldn't wait to see them in the morning either. "_Let's do this!_"


	11. Chapter 11

_** Dreams of an Absolution Chapter 11! Hopefully this will be released by Christmas, or even on Christmas! I'll work hard to make sure it does! Good news, I had an MRI on my leg, I'm able to walk so that's a good sign, I worked on the chapter all through break but now I have to go back to school.. Ugh.. Finals are coming up! I started writing this on the 29th of November, in case any of you were wondering, and so you can time me, and I will work my hardest to get this up on Christmas! Thank you for following my story! As promised, this will be a tamer chapter, a little excitement and foreshadowing as well though!**_

_**Speaking of which, onto the story!**_

– – – – –

There was giggling inside the apartment which belong to Lucy Heartfilia, late that night. It was filled with girls whom had their homes sold or needed a place to stay while Fairy Tail was being fixed up. The complex owner didn't have the heart to sell her apartment, she and Lucy had become friendly after a while and the woman didn't feel like she would be able to get rid of all of Lucy's belongings, so she kept it all those seven years.

When Lucy had returned, the woman tackled her the first chance she got. Turns out she had kept the apartment clean all those years too, Lucy felt her heart squeeze, and promised sooner or later to return the favor somehow, maybe when there wasn't any dangerous fights she had to participate in. She was letting the other girls of Fairy Tail stay with her until they had a place to stay, Erza's place had been sold, she was never close with her landlord. Levy, Mirajane, and Lisianna needed a place for a few nights as well.

She offered Juvia to stay as well, just for the fun, and the girl agreed. Wendy was already there when she got back, so she guessed she was staying. Most everyone else had homes to go to, but had decided to stay so they could talk with everyone again, and no one denied it. She felt like a little kid, as they all sat in a circle with their pillows giggling like little schoolgirls as they talked with each other about the silliest and most embarrassing topics. Lucy talked about her first kiss, Mirajane explained more about her and Erza's rivalry Erza talked about her favorite ways to destroy Mirajane's happiness. It was going good.

"Okay okay, can we move onto a topic that doesn't involve alien abduction?" Erza asked amongst the laughter a few hours in. All the girls stopped their giggling, or grossed out faces, and nodded. It was silent for a few moments. "So, Levy, you really kissed Natsu?" Mirajane asked, and all eyes instantly went on the girl. Levy froze and blushed bright red, surprised at the sudden change of conversation. The other girls giggled at her reaction, except Erza who kept a surprisingly stoic face. "Well.." She began,"I kind of cried on him and then we kissed.." Mirajane grew a sly smirk and continued her questioning, reminding Levy of an interrogating cop.

"What did it feel like?" She asked, leaning even closer. Levy shrugged and smiled,"It was warm, and my heart was fluttering a lot.. Then Gildarts caught us and it was over.." Lucy suddenly perked up. "Speaking of which, does anyone know if Natsu had a place to stay?" Mirajane mentioned, and every girl stopped for a moment, trying to pull out anything they had on the subject the white haired mage was asking them. "No.. I don't remember him saying he had a place to stay.. Do you think he's still at the guild?" Lucy asked worriedly, rubbing her temples in thought.

"He probably is, even though he's gotten a lot smarter he's still an idiot in certain aspects," Erza said as she got to her feet. "I'm going to go drag him here if he is" Lucy watched her for a moment before standing up as well, walking to the coat rack and grabbing her jacket. Levy then stood up as well, and grabbed her own jacket. Mirajane giggled and said,"Go get that knucklehead, ladies! We'll hold down the fort!" Lucy rolled her eyes at the takeover mage's jokes and walked out the door with her friends.

"Why wouldn't Natsu tell us he didn't have a place to stay?" Lucy questioned as they walked down the brick path. There was still singed areas from the battle with Zeref's enemies, but Natsu spend most the rest of the day helping clean up the mess with the boys, he wasn't out there, so he must be near the Guild. "You know how Natsu is, he always puts his Nakama above his own needs. I swear to all gods if he is still working on that damn guild building I'm going to punch him in the face," Erza growled,"He needs to take better care of himself and not worry about us all the time"

Levy suddenly had a somber look on her face as she said,"He shouldn't worry about us so much.. We're the reason he lost his limbs.." Erza's face shadowed with guilt, and Lucy's face fell as well. They all knew it was true, Natsu cared so much about them and all they did was get him hurt. They remained in their somber state until they climbed up the hill to the guild hall, and there he was. Sitting on the crumbling roof of the Fairy Tail guild hall, blueprints in his hand, was the dragon slayer they knew and loved. They could see he had been working on the guild for probably as long as they had been gone, the new planks of wood completely contrasted the old planks.

Angrily, Erza yelled,"Natsu!" The pink haired mage looked up from the blue paper, and his eyes widened in surprise. Then, he blushed at being caught. "Oh.. Um.. Hi guys," He said sheepishly. Erza didn't say anything, just crossed her arms, drumming her fingers against the limb. She was using her 'I'm warning you' face, waiting for Natsu to speak in his fear. Just because he had beaten Erza didn't mean he wanted to invoke her wrath.

"I um.. I was just finishing the guild, I'm just need to do a little more, I can probably finish the exterior by morning," Natsu said sheepishly, running his metal fingers through his hair. Lucy frowned and said,"No, Natsu, you need to sleep! You can finish it even faster if you have help from the rest of the guild, wait until tomorrow!"

"But I'm almost do-_AHH!_" Natsu screamed as the roof gave way under him, breaking and sending him crashing into the inside of the guild. Levy gasped and pushed open the doors to the guild quickly, followed by the two other girls. Natsu was fine, he was on his feet and brushing himself off. "See?" Erza said,"Even the guild hall is telling you to stop and get some rest, I agree with it, so you're coming with us"

"But-"

"_You're. Coming. With. Us._"

Wisely, Natsu shut his mouth and nodded. Turning around, the pink haired mage picked up the blueprints and his backpack. Swinging it onto his back, he gave a small frown before following Erza, Lucy, and Levy out of the guild and down the hill. Despite what he said, they all saw the bags under Natsu's eyes, he was obviously tired, and it made Levy wonder when the last time Natsu got a decent night of sleep was, he had slept for a few hours with her yesterday, but he had a nightmare and woke up, what about before that. She reached over and took his hand, making him look at her curiously, before giving a loving grin.

Levy couldn't help but smile back at him, before continuing their walk down the road. Natsu seemed to understand that it was either he come quietly or be dragged away, so he had not tried to escape. "Here we are," Lucy said happily as they approached her apartment, and she opened the door cheerfully. The girls stopped their chattering once they saw them, and Erza pushed Natsu inside first, before following him. Lucy closed the door once everyone was inside again. "Hello Mr. Natsu!" Wendy said excitedly, waving at him from her spot on the couch, and Natsu smiled softly, waving back at her. "Hey Wendy"

"Natsu, go get in some pajamas of some sort, because you're sleeping here whether you like it or not," Mirajane suddenly said, pushing Natsu towards the bathroom before the young girl could continue the conversation. A blush started to form on the flustered dragon slayer's face, obviously feeling extremely awkward surrounded by all these girls, and being pushed around. "Alright alright," He grumbled, walking inside the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.

Listening to the chatter on the other side, Natsu sighed and dropped his heavy backpack on the ground, before taking off his cloak, his shirt, and his baggy pants. He pulled out a tank top and was about to change into it when he saw himself in the mirror. The contrast of the dark, jagged metal and his toned abs left nothing to the imagination, with the disgusting scar tissue on it. It was painful to look at, so he quickly pulled on his tank top, and ran a hand through his long hair. _This is the closest I'm going to get to pajamas.._ He thought wearily, pulling off his gloves and the wrappings around his metal arm. He stuffed all his clothing into his backpack, neatly folded, and then walked out of the bathroom.

All eyes were on him the second he was, as the girls blinked at his metal arm and leg, as well as his muscles. He blushed and started fiddling his fingers together, desperately wishing that he was still fixing the guild up. Erza took pity on him, taking his hand and leading him to the couch, where he sat down and stared at his backpack, which was at his feet. "Now, where did we leave off before you all went to kidnap Natsu?" Mirajane asked curiously.

"Oh! Levy was telling us about her and Natsu's kiss!" Laki said after clapping her hands together, and grinned mischievously as both Natsu and Levy's faces went as red as a tomato. Natsu buried his face in his hands, while Levy yelled,"I already told you about that, let's move onto something else!" Natsu looked around at all the girls through the glare the lights made on his glasses, and looked back down at his bag, wondering if they wouldn't bother him if he had a book._ 'They most likely wouldn't care'_ He thought calmly, and decided to just listen to them.

Erza looked at Natsu and said,"Have any other adventures you'd like to tell us about? You only told us the important parts, any exciting stories you have?" The girls looked towards the pink haired mage, who began to blush even more, making the girls wonder how the loud and boisterous teen had turned into such a mature and shy young man. Of course, it had been seven years for him, and only a day for them, they almost kept forgetting that. It was easy to see the changes in their friend, not just with the metal body parts, but Natsu's eyes had a wise and intelligent look to them, as did many of the others. It was amazing to see such changes, but they wished they could have been there to see the changes as they came, and not have put everyone through such pain.

"I dunno.. I have lots of stories but I dunno if I would have enough time to tell all of them.." He muttered, messing with his shaggy salmon locks. Erza looked over at the time and nodded,"Natsu's right, it's almost 3 in the morning, we should get rest. That is why we dragged him here in the first place after all.." She sent him an accusing look, making Natsu blush and mutter something under her his breath.

It seemed to rest of the girls were pretty tired as well, if asked they would say they weren't, but they really just stayed awake so they could see if Erza really would manage to drag Natsu all the way from the Guild to Lucy's Apartment, which she did, so they were satisfied. They all grabbed their sleeping bags or found a place to lie down with blankets. Natsu felt awkward and out of place, he didn't know what to do, until Lucy grabbed his hand and dragged him into her bedroom, where she and Erza were sleeping for the night. "Here, we can all sleep in here, out of all of the people in this house I think we can trust Natsu better," Lucy said. Natsu chuckled and replied,"Scared of getting a mustache drawn on your face tonight? Don't worry, I'll protect you from the evil marker!" He raised his fist in the air in a mock protective stance, making the girls giggle.

Natsu smiled at them and then suddenly it felt like he was being shrouded over with exhaustion, he guess the excitement of the day was finally coming back to him, and he let out an exhausted yawn, his sharp canines nearly shining in the light, then he ran a hand through his shaggy hair. Erza chuckled and said,"See? You were going to get tired eventually, you haven't slept in almost a whole day Natsu, get some rest"

Sighing, the Dragon Slayer nodded and replied,"I know Erza, as usual you are right, I guess we could all use some rest" He reached up, pulling off his glasses and closing them calmly. He hated having them sometimes, but it seem Ayame was right when she said radiation, as his eyesight had gotten worse, a doctor explained that it wouldn't blind him, as the progression finally stopped after about a year or two, but without them it was very blurry, and all he could see were blobs of colors and shapes.

"Ne, Natsu, why do have to wear those anyways?" Happy asked, just waking up from his nap on Lucy's bed,"You never had bad seeing before.." Lucy looked like she had the urge to correct him, but Erza quickly shook her head, as she was interested in this story as well. Natsu felt uncomfortable, and awkwardly said,"I um.. Well..When that blast hit me.. The radiation damaged my body pretty badly, messing with a few things about me. It made my body go into.. Hyperdrive sort of, Ayame told me that she believes that the radiation was the only reason I survived in the water so long, and why I'm still alive, but it damaged my eyes, if I hadn't been _facing_ the blast, it might have been different, but I wasn't, and that was years ago, so it's alright" He smiled, rubbing his eyes again.

If his vision wasn't all blurry, he probably would have been able to see how all three of them grew sad and guilty, and Lucy solemnly said,"If you hadn't protected us, Natsu, you wouldn't have lost.. Lost parts of yourself.." Natsu frowned, staring at the blurry form of Lucy he firmly replied,"Isn't that what Nakama do for each other? You would have done the same for me. Besides, the past is the past, I'm fine" That was a half lie, he had accepted his situation long ago, in truth, but at the same time, it was painful to look at himself sometimes, seeing the manged lump that used to be his leg, the scar tissue that stuck out in stark white to his tan-ish skin, and having half his chest gone. It was a reminder of the pain, of thinking his Nakama were dead, of falling into the ocean, thinking he was going to die, and that his death was in vain-

Suddenly, he was pulled out of his sad thoughts by Happy, who was hugging his arm. Natsu, with a quick motion, put his glasses back on, and saw his blue cat's cheerful face, as he said,"Come on, Natsu! Let's go get some fish!" Lucy, with a rolled up magazine, smacked Happy very suddenly and yelled,"_Stupid cat!_ It's three in the morning! NO fish!"

"WAAH! Natsu the evil Lucy is trying to hurt me!" Happy yelled, running behind Natsu's legs, then blowing a raspberry at Lucy, who was being held back by Erza. Natsu watched for a moment, before letting out a hearty laugh. _Boy, I sure missed this.._

– – – – – –

Morning finally came, and the sun crawled from behind the mountains and buildings, shining it's rays down on the slowly waking city. It filtered through the curtain's of Lucy's apartment, awakening one red haired mage. Her eyes squeezed together for a moment, before gently opening, she sat up and rubbed her eyes, looking around gently. Lucy was sleeping happily in the bed, while Natsu was curled up on an extra mattress, like Erza was. Erza couldn't help but smile, as Natsu looked very cute and peaceful in the way he was curled up, Happy buried against Natsu's head of pink locks. The glasses were lying next to him, and curiously, she picked them up, holding them up, before putting them against her eyes.

It only took her seconds to pull away dizzily, and think _Wow, Natsu wasn't kidding about his eyesight.._ She placed them back down and then brought her hands over her head, before stretching with a content sigh. "Morning.." Natsu suddenly said, sitting up and staring at her. Erza would have hit him, but she knew all he probably saw was a blob right now. "Hey Natsu, how did you sleep?" She asked casually. Natsu smiled and reached for his glasses, putting them on calmly. "Wonderfully, best sleep I've had in a while!" He told her cheerfully. Happy was beginning to wake up, but he was making sniffing noises.

"Is he dreaming?" Lucy asked drowsily, from where she sat, rubbing a hand through her sleep tussled hair. "I dunno.. He usually doesn't sleep walk.." Natsu said awkwardly, then jumped, as Happy suddenly sprouted wings, floating towards the door. He slammed against it rather painfully, but didn't move, just let his face remain squished against the door. Natsu's olive eyes stared awkwardly behind their lenses, before getting up off the mattress and turning the nob, letting the cat float into the living room. Suddenly he realized why the cat was sleepwalking, as the sudden smell of eggs, fish, sausages, and bacon, overwhelmed his senses.

"Morning sleepyheads!" Levy said happily, from where she sat in an armchair, her glasses on, and a book placed in her lap. Mirajane waved her spatula, and Lisianna smiled from where she sat at the counter. Cana was still on the couch, probably asleep in a drunken stupor. Natsu smiled cheerfully, and waved his metal arm, before crossing the room and leaning behind the armchair Levy was in, and happily asking,"Watcha readin'?" Levy smiled at him, reaching up and poking his nose. "It's a book about engineering, I found it at a store yesterday, and you promised to teach me, remember?" She flirted gently.

Natsu chuckled, and replied,"So I did.. I can probably teach you today, of course if you have the time?" Levy gave a michevious grin and replied,"I'm free all day~" "Get.. A ROOM!" Cana suddenly yelled, with a hiccup as she pulled her face off the couch cusion, several obscenities escaping her mouth as she did so, to the point Lucy moved and plugged Happy's ears, whom had awoken and had about 37.5 pieces of fish in his mouth. The bluenette and pink haired mages chuckled, before Levy looked up at him excitedly and asked,"Seriously though, can you teach me more stuff today? Like when I helped you with Gildarts' arm?"

The Dragon Slayer smiled and nodded, kissing her forehead before saying,"Of course! I won't go back on my word, we can get started later today!" Mirajane plopped two plates in front of them, with some orange juice. Natsu smiled and sat next to Levy, Erza sitting next to him, an intense look on her face as she stared down at a piece of strawberry cake, and Natsu scooted a little bit away, in fear for what limbs he had left if he bothered her while she was in cake mode, so instead he ate his eggs and sausages, while Levy leaned against him, eating some hash browns.

Everything remained tranquil for a while, until there was a loud knock on the door. "Who is it?" Lucy yelled, walking out of the bathroom in her usual outfit, brushing her hair out calmly. "It's GRAY! OPEN UP!" Natsu rolled his eyes but watched Cana grumble obscenities again as she opened the door, shoving her empty vodka bottle towards Gray and yelling,"Whhhaaat?!" Then, she fell to the ground, out cold. Gray stared at her awkwardly for a moment before looking back at them and saying,"Master wants to saying,"Master wants to see everyone _RIGHT NOW_! He says it's important!" Then, he was gone like the wind.

Everyone exchanged a look, before getting up quickly, breakfast forgotten, as Natsu and Levy walked out, hand in hand with Happy on his head. Erza slung Cana over her shoulder and followed, Mirajane and Lisianna quickly turned off everything and followed out. Cana awoke a little while later and was grumbling, as they dashed down the half finished path, to the half finished guild. They could hear the loud noises inside, and Romeo was outside, he saw Natsu, and jumped up and down, waving his hands. "Natsu! Girls!" He yelled excitedly.

"Romeo, what's going on?!" Natsu asked, worried there was an upcoming attack. "I dunno! We were just waiting for you guys!" Natsu nodded, following the young teen inside, to see everyone muttering quietly, and not even paying attention to Natsu and his group, so they just found seats. Suddenly, people shushed each other, and then Marakov walked in, struggling to climb up the stool, and then jumping onto the counter. Someone snickered, and then, Marakov sent them a glare, which shut them right up. "Everyone.." Marakov began, closing his eyes, and clutching at the papers in his hand, making them crinkle. Then, he raised them up as high as he could, and clutching his other fist.

Staring at the guild members, who were still thoroughly confused, Marakov yelled,"Our reputation was tarnished, destroyed, and laughed at. But this isn't going to happen anymore, now that Fairy Tail is back at full force, nothing will stop us from getting back on top! This year.. WE ARE GOING TO COMPETE IN THE GRAND MAGIC GAMES! And this year..WE ARE GOING TO WIN!"


	12. Author's Note: Mandatory Evacutation

Dear faithful readers.

I have this next chapter nearly done

I probably would have been able to finish it by tomorrow too

HOWEVER

We are currently in the process of an evacuation

There is a fire raging all over town, and it is over 7000 acres with 0% containment

School just got canceled and evacuations are in order

So we're leaving now too, we just got the order to go

My only family nearby has been evacuated too

Plainly putting it, we have nowhere to go

I don't know if where we'll end up has wifi or not, or if we'll even have power

Right now the evacuation point is a gym at a far away school

So I won't be able to finish right now, my safety is more important than this story

As I cannot write if I am dead

I know you guys will probably not care, but I thought you deserved to know

The whole sky is orange, and there are stores closing down due to smoke

Look it up if you don't believe me: Blue Cut Fire

Thank you for continuing to support my story, I'll be sure to continue writing as soon as I get the chance

Now I gotta go pack ;-;

Thank you guys for understanding


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